A Grim Adventure
by silentnight00
Summary: Astrid Potter (fem!harry) was tired of everything and everyone. After loosing her godfather and being forced back to her abusive relatives, she decides that maybe she should leave and let the wizarding world save itself for once. Female Harry. Eventual HP/TMR. Grey Harry.
1. Chapter 1

Astrid Potter had had enough. There was nothing left for her now. The wizarding world had taken everything, and gave nothing back. It took her parents, her childhood, her innocence, and now her godfather. She couldn't take much more, not without breaking entirely.

The 15 year old witch stared blankly out of her bedroom window, her exhausted reflection staring back. Her midnight black hair was even messier than usual from tossing and turning all night, before giving up on sleep all together. It cascaded down her back and framed her face in an explosion of curls that couldn't be tamed. Her emerald green eyes were dull from tiredness and were ringed in dark shadows from many sleepless nights. Her skin, usually a soft tan, was sickly pale, giving her an almost gaunt look when added to her unnaturally skinny frame. She wasn't handling her godfathers death well, and no one was around to notice.

Her relatives locked her in her tiny room as they've taken to doing the last few summers. They fed her through a cat flap on her door, usually watered down soup, stale bread, and a small glass of water which she could barley bring her self to eat anyway. They only let her out once a day to use the bathroom and only once a week to shower, giving her only 5 minutes to do so. If only they added a few dementors. It would feel exactly like Azkaban then.

Astrid didn't think she could survive another whole summer like this. She had tried to tell adults about the abuse, the mental, physical, and emotional torment that she went through here. They didn't listen. It was "safe" here, apparently. Usually she could muster up enough strength to make it until she could leave, but she truly didn't believe she could do that this time. She was too depressed and didn't have a reason to really fight anymore. Sirius was gone, and with him, all her dreams and hopes for a life.

Sirius has been an anchor to her. They wrote to each other often, and sneaked around to meet up and bond. He had become a father to her. He listened to her problems, helped her with her issues. He understood abuse as he went through the same with his mother. They had become each other's therapist. They had each been getting better mentally with someone there that truly understood and didn't judge them. The grim animagus was making plans to rescue his goddaughter before she had even gone to her relatives this summer. He had ran away from his family at her age. He was going to help her do the same.

Now it was all for not.

Astrid sighed tiredly as she gazed up at the night sky. She wasn't very good at astronomy, but one star always stuck out to her, even before she found out that she was a witch. Sirius, the Dog Star. It always called to her. When she was younger she always wondered how she knew what star that was. To her knowledge, no one had ever pointed it out to her. She had no way of knowing that her godfather used to sneak her out at night to star gaze. He would always point out his star and whisper that as long as that star shone, he would be watching out for her.

A single tear trailed down her cheek as she remembered her godfather telling her of that, His words echoing in her head.

"I don't know what to do." Her voice was a broken whisper as she spoke to the star.

Sirius' face flashed through her minds-eye, a mischievous smile playing at his mouth. She could almost here his reply, or at least what he would have said if he'd been there, "Don't just stand there Bambi. Go out and prank the world. It deserves it."

He was always telling her to prank something, saying it was a good stress relief, a way to get back at the world for being so shitty. She always laughed when he said it and shrugged. Pranking wasn't her thing.

Maybe now would be a good time to start though. A ghost of a smile graced her face. What would be a better way to prank the world than to disappear. The wizarding world was so fickle. They worship her, then vilify her, now they were back to singing her praises. They called her the chosen one now. They expected her to save them from the big, bad Dark Lord while they all hide behind her skirts. Well not this time.

A devious smirk played at her lips as an idea formed. They wanted her to fight their battles. That wasn't happening. She would leave. Disappear without a trace and watch as they run around like headless chickens looking for her. Good'ol Tommy boy can have them. The light side wouldn't save her from her personal hell. She wouldn't save them from theirs.

It really didn't take much to escape unnoticed by her watchers. She just had to call in a favor from the one remaining family member that she was learning to tolerate. Dudley.

* * *

To her surprise, at the beginning of the summer her large, but no longer morbidly obese, cousin actually expressed gratitude for her saving his life the last summer. She decided to not point out that it was his soul she saved, not his life. He told her that if she ever needed something he would like to try to repay the debt.

Dudley almost always brought her meager rations for the day, always expressing his apologies for the poor quality and quantity. So when he come up that day to deliver the food she told him her plan. It didn't take much to get him to agree. He actually seemed almost relived that she wanted to leave. He didn't think she'd last this summer either. He had seen her devastated look when she had come back from school.

The next day, Dudley easily snatched the keys to her room from his parents room after they left for the day and unlocked her door, trying to not show his shock at the state his cousin was in. She was far skinnier than normal and had deep shadows under her eyes. Her skin was pale and sickly and her hair was even messier than usual as well as dull and lackluster.

The young witch smiled grimly at her cousin's shocked look but didn't comment. Dudley was too shocked for words and more than glad that he could help her, even if his part in her escape was relatively simple.

"Thanks Dud." Her voice was a low rasp as she offered him a small but sincere smile. She had always spoken softly. Being quiet had been beat into her at such a young age that it became nearly impossible for her to speak above a whisper. It was a mix of physiological trauma and vocal disuse. The rasp was new though. Most likely from her crying until no more tears fell.

Dudley couldn't reply through his suddenly too tight throat. He had to push back his horror to nod in acceptance and lead her through the house with her meager belongings. She carried only her school trunk and an odd cloak making him assume that she had released her owl before he had let her out.

Astrid stopped before the front door and smiled slightly at her once hated relative, "Take care cousin. If anyone asks, I haven't been heard from for days."

Dudley shifted awkwardly, "Where will you go?"

"I'm not sure. Wherever is available I guess. I can't tell you anything specific, my kind can read minds if they feel like it." The black haired girl answered.

Her cousin blanched at that information before giving her another accepting nod, "Be careful Astrid."

The Girl-Who-Lived nodded once and threw on her cloak, disappearing completely from view along with her trunk. Dudley stared dumbfounded at the space his cousin had just vanished from before shaking out of his shock with a muttered "wicked" and opened the door to casually walk out as if he were just going to visit a friend like any other day, closing the door just slow enough to feel the small girl slip by him.

The large teenager gave a small smile as he leisurely walked down the sidewalk. He knew the moment that his cousin officially left his side to disappear to wherever she was going and gave a quiet sigh, "Goodbye Astrid Potter." It would be many years before he saw her again.


	2. Chapter 2

Astrid grinned as she slipped through a narrow alley and carefully took off her cloak. She stuffed her unruly hair into an elastic hair band and shoved a hat low in her head to hide her famous scar before she folded the cloak and put it into an overly large pocket for easy access and looked around for any people before holding her wand out to hale the Knight Bus.

The magical triple-decker bus arrived with a bang just seconds later and the boy who opened the doors didn't look at her twice after she payed her fare and answered Diagon Alley to the question of her destination. There was only one other passenger to drop off before her, so they arrived quickly to the Leaky Cauldron, allowing her to hop off.

The Girl Who Lived quickly slipped through the empty bar, pulling her trunk behind her as she entered the still rather barren alley. It was too early still for most shops to be open. They had about another hour or so before then. Gringotts was the only building open for business 24/7 which just happened to be her destination.

Nodding politely to the two guards out side the doors, Astrid entered the bank and walked up to the nearest open teller.

"I need to visit my vault please." She responded to the non verbal prompt the teller gave her and showed him (or her) the key that she fished out of her pocket.

The goblin examined the key critically before handing it back. "We've been waiting for you to come in for weeks Miss Potter. You have some paperwork to sign."

Astrid gave the little green man a confused look and said in her soft, still raspy tone, "I didn't know you needed me to come in. I haven't received any owls from Gringotts. Actually I've never received an owl from Gringotts."

The goblin, Goldfinger according to his nameplate, stared at the confused witch as if trying to decide if she was lying or not. Astrid just stared back, feeling slightly uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

Slowly the goblin turned to another of his kind and barked something in the guttural language of his people. The one he spoke to nodded and left out of a side door that lead to who knows where. The teller then turned back to the still confused witch and said, "I believe that you need to have a long over due conversation with your account manager, Miss Potter."

"Account manager? I thought only nobility or people with extremely large vaults had account managers." She replied wearily. Surely she'd know if she had an account manager, right? _Not if it's being deliberately kept from you._ She thought to herself. It was obvious by how the goblin was acting that something was seriously wrong. The black haired girl would bet money on some type of mail redirect ward.

The teller didn't answer, he just hopped down from his seat and gestured for her to follow him through the door the other goblin had went through just moments before. Apparently it lead to the offices of the managers in question. They passed many doors that stated the managers name and then the last name of the account holder.

They stopped at a door that had the name Sharpclaw on top and Potter under it. The teller knocked sharply on the wooden door and waited for an old, gravelly voice to grant them entry.

The manager on the other side of the door was one of the oldest goblins Astrid had ever seen. His hair was so thin it was almost nonexistent and white, he sat hunched, making his appear even shorter than he truly was, his skin was like old leather and colored in a mix of dark green and brown. His nose was long and pointed and his ears dropped slightly where they stuck out from his hair making the pointed tip point towards the ground. He had one eye that was black as night and glinted with vicious intelligence and one eye that was clearly sightless as it was a milky white and had a deep scar bisecting it. His hands were resting on an impressive looking oaken desk and sported wicked looking claws that had to extend at least two inches from the tip of his fingers. They were smooth and obviously well taken care of with such a sharp tip that Astrid was surprised that they didn't damage the wood that was under them.

The teller didn't enter the office with her but shut the door firmly behind her, leaving the girl alone with this rather intimidating being. Sharpclaw didn't say anything at first, just stared at the witch with his one eye. Astrid remained absolutely still, having had lots of practice with starting at certain death.

After what felt like an eternity the goblin moved one dangerous looking hand and gestured to the empty seat in front of his desk in clear invitation.

She nodded slightly in thanks and left her trunk just behind the chair as she sat, taking off her hat as she went and held it between her hands to keep from fidgeting.

"We have been waiting for a few weeks for you to come here after sending out the notifications for the last will and testament of the late Heir Sirius Black." He spoke slowly and Astrid couldn't tell if it was because of old age, or if he thought she was somewhat mentally deficient.

"As I informed Teller Goldfinger, I have never received corespondents from this establishment." Her answer was spoken just as slowly and her eyes had narrowed because she had a feeling that he really did think she was slow, he didn't look the type to allow old age to slow him down in any way.

The goblin's eyes narrowed as well, half in warning to her and half in thought. "We send out a a bi-yearly account statement and a yearly account summery to all of our vault holders. You, as Heiress of your family as well as the last surviving member should have started receiving them from the moment you turned eleven to further prepare you for your duties once you become of age. Before then your Magical Guardian would have been receiving them in your place to keep your accounts running."

Astrid started at him for a moment. Heiress? Magical Guardian? What on earth was he talking about?

"I have never gotten any statements and I have no clue what a Magical Guardian even is, let alone who." She decided to stick with the easier things first. She can deal with the Heiress business later.

Sharpclaw's expression never changed but he gave off a decidedly displeased air and started shifting through piles of paperwork that was neatly stacked on his desk. He made a humming sound and glanced back up at the young witch after finding what he was looking for.

"Your Magical Guardian, Albus Dumbledore, brought in a letter, attached to your magical signature, saying that you have received your first statement just a week after your eleventh birthday, as is our policy. You need to either come in in person, or send a verified letter acknowledging this." He handed her the letter and she looked it over in disbelief. It wasn't her handwriting. It wasn't even Dumbledore's loopy scrawl. It had the flow of being written with a quill, which further made her case. At the age of eleven she had no idea how to write with a quill and her relatives had locked all of her school related things away so she couldn't even practice for school. She got a lot of abysmal marks on her essays at the start of term because of this.

Yet, despite that, she could feel familiar magic emanating from the parchment. Her magic. How was that possible?

"I didn't write this." She said in confusion, "I didn't even know how to use a quill when this was written. The very first time I ever saw Professor Dumbledore was at the start of term feast my first year and I didn't even have a conversation with him until the very end of that year. And he never mentioned this, or anything about a Magical Guardian."

"That is your magical signature." The goblin stated as if that proved her to be a liar.

"And I have no idea how it got there." She said as firmly as her soft voice could allow. She did not like the insinuation that she was a lair. She got enough of that the past year. It was even scarred deeply into her hand.

Sharpclaw gave the girl a piercing look and said, "Magical signature theft is a very serious crime Miss Potter. Even the accusation can cause serious trouble."

Astrid could understand that. To steal someone's magical signature was like stealing their identity. From what the Girl-Who-Lived understood, it was very difficult to obtain someone's signature, and nearly impossible without them knowing since you had to get it directly from them. It was painful and would even wake someone from a deep sleep, even a magically induced one. The magic would lash out at whoever was trying to get a sample and could be very dangerous to the perpetrator. It was practically like raping someone's magic. It left you with a thoroughly violated feeling.

"And I'm not exactly accusing anyone of such a thing. To my knowledge, no one has sampled my magic. I'm just saying that I have no idea how my signature got on that letter." It was very frustrating, not being able to figure out how that happened. It's not like she could have just touched the letter and left her signature on there. It had to be very specificity done, you had to want to leave it and no form of coercion could work.

The goblin snatched the letter back with a grumble and snarled a quick "Hold still."

Quicker than Astrid could comprehend, he waved his hand in her direction and the feeling of foreign magic invaded her system. Her body shivered at the feeling and she had to fight not move and try to cover herself up in a vain attempt to get rid of the rather exposed feeling.

To her relief, the magic quickly ended and the goblin was running his clawed hand around the letter with a look of concentration. It took under a minute before he was finished and snarling obvious obscenities in Gobbledygook.

"It is a copy. Close, but not your exact signature. The fact a _copy_ made it past our security is a travesty. You will be compensated." It looked like it actually pained him to say that.

Astrid sighed. She didn't need compensation. She just wanted to sort this out and leave before her watchers caught her escape attempt, but she also realized that it was a matter of pride and to refuse would probably be seen as an insult to the prickly beings.

"If you can fix the letter issue and make sure Albus Dumbledore never has access to any of my accounts again, I'll call us even." She bargained.

"Done." He answered quickly, making some notes on a spare bit of parchment.

It took hours before Astrid was done with the bank and she left extremely shell shocked. She was filthy rich with just the Potter accounts, which she just found out came with a Ladyship and a lot of responsibility. She tripled her wealth with the help of her godfather that left her nearly everything, including the lordship, now Ladyship, of the Black family which doubled the responsibility. Apparently Sirius had blood adopted her as a toddler for reasons that she would now never know which made her his daughter and eligible for only thing Sirius didn't leave her was a cottage that went to Remus and a couple thousand gallons that went to him as well.

She also found out that Dumbledore had taken things out of her vaults illegally, as he would have needed her permission that she never gave. He didn't take any money, and he gave her one thing he took back, her cloak, but the family pensieve and a large amount of books were still missing. The goblins had to compensate her for the unknown theft as well which she got a free portkey to France and muggle passport and other identification for traveling as well as a vow that no one would learn from them that she had left the country.

Which brought her to the last thing she learnt, that nearly had her jumping for joy. Now that she completed her OWLs, and was the last of her family, she was able to claim her Ladyships early and emancipate herself. She was now considered an adult in the wizarding world and could not only use magic, but legally go wherever she wished. She would still have to be careful of course, she highly doubted that Dumbledore would care about the technicalities and force her back to the Dursley's anyway.

She was free though. Now it was time to disappear. She smirked and activated the portkey that was clenched in her fist, disappearing from wizarding Britain.

It would be nearly a week before anyone noticed.


	3. Chapter 3

Astrid Potter landed in an undignified heap in what she assumed was the French Gringotts. She groaned and pushed her trunk off of herself from where it had landed on top of her and sat up.

She was in a relatively large oval room made out of white marble. A set of double doors stood off to he side with two goblin guards at each end. The witch eyed the little beings warily. Though they gave no sign of it, she could practically feel their amusement, or maybe her embarrassment was making her assume.

As she got up she saw the subtle smirk on a younger looking goblin and grumbled half heartedly. _Laugh it up ya little bastards._

With a sigh she exited the room and then the lobby to enter the magical district of France. The market place was bustling with all manner of people who were speaking French. It was loud and bright and filled with magical energy.

Astrid smiled and, with the noise a constant buzzing in her ears, she set off for what was obviously a hotel. The bed on the sign kinda gave it away. It wasn't until she entered the building that she realized she probably should have went to a country with a language she actually understood.

A short, bubbly looking woman with bright blond hair and blue green eyes smiled at her brightly and spoke what Astrid assumed was a greeting. The only word she actually knew was _bonjour_. Yeah, she definitely should have gone to an English speaking country. She hadn't even thought about it when Sharpclaw asked for a destination to make the portkey. France had just slipped out really.

"Um," she stated nervously and more than a bit embarrassed, "do you speak English by chance?"

The lady gave a small laugh and replied with a bit of an accent, "Yes, many shop keepers will be bi-lingual in the magical sect. We get a lot foreign tourists."

Astrid slumped in relief, crisis averted for the moment. "Oh, great. This is a hotel, right?"

"Yes. A rather small one. If you're looking for more luxurious accommodations you should try at the end of the Alley." The woman, whose name tag read Adèle, gave her a look over with bit of a grimace, "No offense meant dear, but you look like you could use the relaxation." Astrid could have sworn the woman muttered, "or a healer." Under her breath but she decided to ignore that for now, she knew she looked horrible and probably did need to see a healer.

"I'd actually prefer small and less known." The younger witch answered sheepishly while looking around. The place was clean looking and had a homey feel to it. It kinda reminded her of what she read a bed and breakfast should feel like.

"Well, you've come to the right place then. It's 10 sickles a night or 1 galleon and 13 sickles for five days. Your stay comes with a complementary breakfast every morning of your stay as well as our tourist map with popular areas highlighted. We also have lunch and dinner available as well as drinks for a separate charge, a menu will be in your room. Breakfast is served every day at 8 O'clock in the morning with the option of having it delivered to your room or you can join the other guests in our small dinning area if you wish to mingle." Adèle reeled off so quickly Astrid struggled to keep up, but she somehow managed.

"I'd prefer breakfast in my room please. And I'll stay for 5 nights." She dug out the correct amount of coins and handed it over, thinking that 5 days would give her time to actually figure out what to do. She needed some form of plan instead of just winging it like usual. Winging it only works out half the time.

The lady smiled and accepted the money, making a note on a piece of parchment. She handed Astrid a key and directed her down the hall, last door on the right. The British witch smile and gave a soft "Thank you" before walking quickly down the hallway and stopping at the last door with a number 10 on it.

She was pleasantly surprised how nice the room was. The walls were a soft cream color and the carpet was thick and soft. The queen sized bed took up the majority of the small room and looked fluffy and practically called to her with large pillows and a thick deep blue colored duvet with silver flowers sewn into it. It looked like heaven to her. But before she even thought about sleeping, she desperately needed a shower.

Astrid quickly walked through the only other door in the room and entered a small bathroom with a toilet, two sinks, and a standing shower. Exited at the prospect of not only getting clean, but taking as long of a shower as she wanted to, the girl quickly heated the water, stripped, and stumbled in in her haste to be clean.

After an hour long shower and a quick drying charm, Astrid fell onto the most comfortable bed she'd ever been on and nearly instantly fell asleep, the excitement of the day, as well as the weakness of her malnourished body catching up to her. For the first time in months, the Girl-Who-Lived had a restful, dreamless sleep. 

The next day Astrid put on her school robes, after charming off the Hogwarts and Gryffindor crests, and decided that she was in desperate need of more clothes. She only had her school robes and Dudley's cast offs that she pretty much swam in.

She raked a comb through her hair, trying in vain to some what tame the mess before giving up and throwing it into a messy bun at the base of her skull. A few strands escaped and hung around her face but she just gave it up as a bad job and left it. After losing that battle and a quick breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast that was brought to her room as promised, she pulled her old ball cap low on her head to help hide her scar and set off out of her room.

The receptionist was a different girl this time, younger than the last and had an extremely bored look on her face. Her hair was pin straight and nearly as black as her own and her heavy lidded eyes were a dark chocolate brown. Her skin was pale and she had her nose pierced with a diamond stud and a ring on her lip.

Astrid nodded politely to her as she passed and walked out into the bright sunlight filled Alley. She pulled out the map that had come with her breakfast and quickly looked for the best places to shop.

It was as she was skimming over it that she noticed a small note in the corner as well as an arrow pointing a certain direction.

 _Still no offense meant, but you really do look like you could use a healer._ Was written in very neat script and obviously come from the receptionist from the day before. Astrid bit her lip indecisively. She had no idea how to start getting herself healthy again, and the smart thing to do would be to take the receptionist's advice and see the healer. She was hesitant though. A healer would need to know who she was and she had no idea if she was as famous here as she was in Britain. She really didn't need the whole country to know she was here if the healer couldn't keep their mouth shut. There really was no helping it though. She needed help.

With a weary sigh, the girl followed the map to the small, out of the way building that was nestled in a nearly hidden corner of the alley. The building looked relatively new and a plaque beside the door read _"le guérisseur Enzo Rousseau"_

Nervously the young witch walked up the stairs and opened the door, hearing a bell chime as she did so. The interior was a peaceful setting, brightly lit with squishy looking arm chairs in what was obviously a waiting room. It had a fireplace and a hanging chandelier, as well as a book case with frequently read books as well as magazines and newspapers for customers to read from. There was no one in the waiting room so she must have come at a time that they were least busy.

A male voice suddenly speaking French to her left made her jump and then blush, embarrassed at her reaction. An older gentleman was looking at her expectantly, his soft brown hair lightly streaked with grey and his tanned face was just starting to wrinkle with age. He looked at her with soft blue eyes and waited patiently for her to answer. It was clear that the young witch was nervous and he didn't want to push her. Just by looking at her he could tell that she really needed help.

"Ah, um. English?" Astrid stumbled slightly in her words and had to force herself not to fidget. The man was so much taller than her, she had to crane her neck to look up at his face.

He gave a gentle smile and spoke softly in an accented voice, "Of course miss. I am Healer Enzo and this is my private practice. How my help you this morning?"

Astrid glance away from him and back quickly and asked, "You can't give any patient information away can you?"

The healer looked at her suspiciously and answered, "We take patient confidentiality very seriously here. All employees are required to take an oath to such affect before ever handling patient information."

Feeling a bit more confident after that, Astrid straightened some, "A receptionist at the hotel I'm staying at recommended seeing you and gave me directions here. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm not exactly in the best of health. I was hoping you could help."

The suspicion cleared from his face and he smiled at her again and gestured for her to follow him into an examination room.

"I will see what I can do. You can take a seat on the bed." He pointed to a plain white hospital bed and she hoped up on it and looked at the healer expectantly.

Healer Enzo pulled out a roll of parchment and a quill and said, "I need your full name, your date of birth, and how long you've been in this condition. After that I will give you a full examination, most of which is done magically, and we will talk about how we can help you get better."

"Astrid Rosalie Potter." She started, catching the healer's slight pause as he wrote her name, but he said nothing which she was very thankful for, "July 31 1980. I have always been rather malnourished, my relatives don't like feeding me much. It's a bit worse than usual now because I have been fighting a sever bout of depression after the recent loss of my godfather." She tried to give him the information that he needed without saying too much. "I'm sure you'll find mis healed bones and scarring during the examination as well. I have never received any vaccinations, be the magical or muggle."

The healer maintained a professional air as he listened to her and made notes on the parchment and then nodded when she was done. "Ok Miss Potter, first I am going to cast a diagnostic charm. It will tell me of any immediate concerns as well as if you currently have anything in your system that may affect the healing."

Astrid nodded her understanding and held still as the healer spoke the incantation and a wave of magic passed through her. It took a couple of minutes before a stream of parchment left the tip of his wand and the healer took out a pair of reading glasses to look it over.

"Hmm. You were right about the bones and scarring. I can prescribe a scar reducer to take care of the most noticeable if you would like but it will only fade them, not remove them entirely. As for the bones, you have three that did not heal properly aligned and will have to be re broken and set correctly. One rib, one in your left wrist, and one in your left hand. That will be painful I'm afraid, each break has surrounded itself in scar tissue which will have to be removed. How you have any mobility in that hand I'll never know. You are severely malnourished to the point of near organ failure and your bones are so brittle I'm not sure how you haven't broken more of them."

Healer Enzo sighed and removed his glasses to look at the witch that was much too small for her age, "I'll be honest with you Miss Potter, it's going to be a long recovery. Your Magical Guardian should have addressed this as soon as they noticed and if not them, your school teachers and nurse should have. The fact that they didn't is…astounding and extremely irresponsible. It is not possible that they didn't notice your condition. Things like this do not happen over night. What I am most concerned with is that as a minor, I cannot start healing you without your guardians permission and if they haven't corrected it before, it most likely means that they just don't want to."

"It's ok healer. I came to that conclusion a long time ago. I just recently became emancipated. You won't need his permission if you have mine." She said softly still trying to wrap her head around just how bad she was. Organ failure? Brittle bones? Apparently she didn't need to worry about Voldemort killing her, her relatives were doing a bang up job of it on their own. She almost laughed at that thought just thinking about the Dark Lords reaction to the fact muggles came closer to killing her than he ever did.

Healer Enzo actually sighed in relief and smiled at her, "Good. That's very good. Now, you'll have to stay here over night, I'm going to have to sever the scar tissue around each mis-healed bone and carefully remove as much as I can. I most likely will not be able to remove it all, but I can clean it up some so that it doesn't bother you as much. It will most likely cause you pain when you're much older and you'll probably have arthritis in your left hand and wrist once you're older as well.

"Then I will re break the bones and set them correctly, I'll wrap them and give you a small dose of skele gro. You will have to be monitored throughout the night to make sure nothing shifts as its healing.

"I can numb you a bit with magic and give you a mild pain reliever for the cutting and breaking that has to be done but anything stronger will interfere with the skele gro."

Astrid gave him a dry smile and said, "I'm rather used to pain at this point. I just want to be healthy for once. What can be done about the brittle bones and near organ failure?"

"Well, we do have a month long potion regimen that must be followed to the letter that will fix both issues slowly throughout the month. You must eat extremely healthily and frequently while on them, that means you cannot miss a meal and you need frequent snacks between meals. When you leave tomorrow I can give you a set of the potions and a dietary plan that you will follow.

"With that I will also be prescribing you nutrition potions that you will take with food every morning and evening with your breakfast and supper. I will give you a months supply of each potion and at the end of the month I want you to come back in for a check up and see if you will need more or not. And before you leave you will receive your missing vaccinations."

Astrid nodded in acceptance and resigned herself to a night of sleeplessness and pain.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Astrid was tired, slightly sore, but already feeling better. She hadn't even noticed how much her wrist, hand, and ribs were hurting her until they were fixed. Even with all of her other problems, she was already in less pain.

Healer Enzo's apprentice, a short, boyish looking young man by the name of Louis, was the one that checked up on her throughout the night and monitored her healing bones. He was a very friendly man and passionate about healing.

When it was time to leave, she thanked both of them sincerely and promised to come back in one month for a check up. She left with a shrunken crate filled to the brim with clearly labeled potions. She cheerfully walked through the early morning crowed and back to her hotel.

The receptionist from her first day was there again and smiled brightly when she walked in. "Good morning!" The older woman greeted brightly.

Astrid gave a tired smile and said, "Good morning. And thank you for pointing out the healer for me."

"It was no problem. I'm glad I could help. Would you be needing breakfast this morning?"

"Yes please. And could you add an apple to it? I'm supposed to eat a piece of fruit with every meal." The British witch replied.

"Of course miss."

Astrid smiled her thanks and went on her way to her room.

She sat the shrunken crate on her bed and expanded it to grab her morning potions to take with breakfast before shutting and shrinking it again. She put the vials on her nightstand and looked towards the window as she heard an insistent pecking.

A bright smile graced her features at the sight of her beautiful snowy owl hovering outside her window.

"Hedwig!" She exclaimed and hurried to let her inside and allowed her friend to swoop over and perch on the headboard of the bed.

"I knew you'd find me Hed, but I didn't think it would take only two days." She said softly and gently ran her fingers down the owl's soft beast feathers.

Hedwig hooted in a decidedly smug tone and preened under the attention of her human as Astrid heaped praises upon her smart, loyal, and amazing companion. No owl was better than hers after all.

"You must be tired after flying all this way. You should sleep. I've got a bit of shopping to do, I'll bring you back some treats." Hedwig affectionately nipped her wonderfully thoughtful human in acceptance and tucked her head under a wing as she settled down to sleep.

Astrid ate her breakfast quickly and choked down her two vile tasting potions. She took a quick shower and after she dressed in another school robe, checked to make sure her money pouch was decently full before leaving once more to hopefully get some shopping done.

She went to the first casual wear shop she found and browsed for a while before finding an assistant for help. She had no idea what to look for. The assistant helped her pick out nearly a whole wardrobe including underclothes and shoes, all with slight size adjustment charms since she would hopefully be putting on weight soon. She was then pointed to a formal wear shop with the explanation that every witch needed at least two formal robes and dresses. So with a sigh, she left with her pockets full of shrunken down bags and went to the other shop.

Two new outfits later and a significantly smaller money pouch, Astrid was ready for lunch and a nap. She ate at little café in the main part of the alley that happened to be across from a book store. So after her meal, she set off to go explore it and hopefully find some books in English.

She didn't find any English books, but the clerk did give her an owl ordering guide that sold books in any language. She just needed to go through and pick what she wanted and send the form in.

Feeling extremely tired now, she decided to go back to the hotel, grab a snack, and have a nap.

The next few days Astrid spent picking her next destination. She needed to keep moving to avoid being found. She also needed to find a away to keep up her education. She refused to return to Hogwarts, but she wanted to get her NEWTs as well. She was sure that Dumbledore had noticed her missing by now so she felt confident enough to rent a nondescript owl and send in the necessary paperwork to pull herself out of Hogwarts, which included a copy of her emancipation forms proving that she was able to make such decisions on her own.

By officially pulling her self out, she could hire private tutors and take her examinations at the ministry at any time that she felt ready to. Which she would do after she found a safe place to stay for a while.

After a bit of deliberation she decided to head for Japan. Japan had the most advanced magical sect and she could actually speak a bit of the language. Dean Thomas had been really into Japanese manga and let her borrow ones that he was done with. It took her a bit, but she could read most of it and speak enough to get by. Plus no one would expect her to go to Japan. Which is why she now decided to avoid English speaking places. Yes, it'll be harder for her to get by, but it would also be harder to find her that way.

She had to go to the French ministry to get a portkey since the travel agency was located in the ministry building. She only needed to pay a bit more to get one without giving any information on herself. Apparently it happens a lot so it wasn't even suspicious that she requested one. She kept the button used to make the portkey in her pocket as she packed everything she needed into the new three compartment trunk. One compartment held all of her clothes, one held her potions and broom, and the last held all of her books and her photo album.

Now finished packing she glanced at the night table that held a plain envelop with a hesitantly quilled letter. She still wasn't sure if it was a smart move to send it, but she felt like she needed to. She wanted no part in the war, never did. No one had ever asked her what she wanted, they just expected her to go along with what they said. Still, she was nervous about his reaction to getting a letter from her. Who wouldn't be nervous about writing to their supposed worst enemy. She also didn't want Hedwig to get hurt if he reacted badly, but she was the only owl she trusted with such and important letter.

With a sigh she picked it up and walked over to her loyal companion. "You will be careful right Hed? Just drop it off and fly away. I don't expect a reply so don't even think of waiting around. And watch out for the snake. I know you can take care of your self but still, she's large and fast."

Hedwig hooted soothingly at her distressed mistress and nipped her affectionately. Astrid smiled softly and handed her the letter. "Voldemort, also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, Hed. Be quick, but safe."

* * *

Albums Dumbledore was in a jam. The child of prophecy has disappeared without a trace, the goblins of Gringotts were refusing to do business with him under suspicion of theft, and his biggest light supporters are practically boycotting him after he refused to let them take Miss Potter with them for the summer after her godfathers death. He understood that the Weasley's viewed the girl as family, but they just didn't understand that Astrid needed to be with her relatives. It was safest for her there, and a few missed meals and a disciplinary smack every now and then didn't change that.

The girl would have been fine had she just stayed put like he told her to. She needed a bit of suffering, it would toughen her up for what she needed to do to win them this war. Now he was struggling to be heard as the order descended into chaos after breaking the news that the Potter Heiress was missing.

The red heads were worried that the girl had been captured and bounced between blaming him for not letting them take her or contact her the last few weeks, and wailing about how they should have ignored him and contacted her anyway. Remus was glaring at him with golden colored eyes and a rumbling growl was making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Dumbledore didn't think that Remus had it in him to be so angry. The rest of the order were pretty much wondering how they were going to defeat Voldemort with the girl gone, some had even taken to drinking in the last few minutes, actually giving up all together. Rather pathetic really…

The aging wizard nearly sighed in relief when Severus Snape walked in and the attention was turned to the potions master instead of himself. For his part, Snape merely raised an eyebrow at the explosion of questions that bombarded him as soon as he stepped through the door.

"The Dark Lord does not have the brat." Snape said flatly once he could be heard over the noise.

This created an even bigger upset, if that were possible. If Voldemort didn't have her then where is she? Did someone else take her? Did her despicable relatives do something to her? Did she decide to flee?

The last question, made by Tonks, caused the room to quiet almost instantly.

"Astrid would never run away. She's faced you-know-who more times than nearly any of you and never tried to run. How dare you even suggest it!" Ron Weasley defended his friend fiercely, a scowl on his face as he glared at the now mousy brown haired witch who looked rather contrite.

Hermione on the other hand didn't look so sure. She clearly remembered the look on her friends face as they left the train station. She had looked so defeated. She hadn't even reacted to her uncle's below, and when Hermione had promised to write, Astrid had only offered her a rather dry smile, clearly not believing her. With a sinking feeling Hermione came to the conclusion that Astrid very well could have left them. And she couldn't exactly blame her. The wizarding world hadn't exactly been kind to her raven haired friend. With the loss of her godfather and friends that she would assume would choose Dumbledore over herself, she probably thought that she had nothing left to lose.

The bookworm didn't voice her thoughts. If Astrid did leave, then she wanted to prove that she was on her side, not the Headmasters and give her a bit more time before they caught on. It's the least she could do, even if it did come a bit late.  
That plan was derailed almost instantly when Professor Mcgonagall flooed in and, lips pinch and face pale as a ghost, handed the Headmaster a letter. The old wizard read the letter silently and at the end his face matched his deputy's.

"Astrid Potter has been emancipated and has pulled herself out of Hogwarts."

* * *

Lord Voldemort was confused. He didn't often get confused anymore, but when it came to a certain thorn in his side, also known as Astrid Potter, well he learned long ago to expect the unexpected with her. When his spy had come and bluntly informed him that the brat was missing, he was rather amused. The old fool had lost his pet. How sad.

That was before The Letter arrived. He was very conflicted about The Letter. It contradicted everything he knew about the girl, which, admittedly, wasn't a lot and came from primarily second hand sources. Maybe it was time to reevaluate Astrid Potter. She was rather difficult to kill and just having her out of the way would help his cause tremendously.

Back to The Letter. He thought it was a trick at first. He still thought that there was a slight chance of it being a trick. Some foolish scheme of the Light to get him to let his guard down. It would be a rather stupid ploy, but if there was one thing he new about the Potter girl, it was that she wasn't stupid; no matter what Severus and Lucius' brat said. He had indirectly taught the girl her first year, he knew intelligence when he saw it.

Running a long fingered hand through his newly returned, thick, black hair the Dark Lord and glanced over the letter again. What exactly was he supposed to do with _this_?

 _To Voldemort aka Tom Riddle aka The Dark Lord ect…_  
 _If you haven't thrown this letter out right away, I commend your curiosity considering if it were the other way around I most likely would have set fire to it without even thinking about it. Anyway, I'm just letting you know that I'm leaving the country and the war. I'm not entirely sure what your aims are, since no one has bothered to tell me and it's not something that can exactly be found in a book, so I have no idea what you plan on doing with Wizarding Britain but whatever it is, I'm sure they deserve it. I have no plans to return to Britain of my own free will so if you could just leave me alone, I won't bother you in anyway. I know you're worried about the prophecy, but really, most prophecies are self fulfilling and even if it wasn't made by a complete fraud, if you ignore it, it most likely won't come to pass. Hope your summer is pleasant and your takeover prosperous._  
 _Regards,_  
 _Astrid Potter aka The Girl-Who-Lived aka the wizarding world scapegoat_

If The Letter was true, then not only had the Light lost its greatest weapon, but he lost one of his greatest enemies. It was odd. He always got the impression that the girl was a hard headed Gryffindor that followed Dumbledore blindly. Something had to have happened to split them. But what?  
With a shrug, the Dark Lord grabbed a bit of parchment and a quill. _Only one way to find out._ He thought as be began to write.

 _Potter aka The Thorn in My Side_  
 _I will agree to leave you in peace in exchange for you vowing to not fight against me in any way unless in self defense as long as you answer one question. What caused you to make this decision and oppose the almighty Albus Dumbledore?_  
 _Voldemort aka The Dark Lord_


	5. Chapter 5

Astrid's portkey had dropped her off in another Gringotts bank in what she quickly learned was in the magical district of Tokyo. It was at least twice as large as the French sect and if she thought it was noisy there, well she nearly got an instant headache upon stepping out of the nice and quiet bank.

She cringed internally and looked around a little overwhelmed. She had never been able to travel so much before and the sensory overload was a bit much. Her ears were ringing with the noise and her eyes couldn't decide which new and interesting thing to look at first. Her magic was going haywire as it danced about with the free magic floating around. There was just so much magic in the very land that it was threatening to drown her.

Her skin felt too tight. She felt her airways closing up and she suddenly couldn't breath.

It took a minute for the traveling witch to realize that she was actually having a panic attack. She came to this realization with a rather detached air. Magic radiated off almost everything in the vicinity in a way that it never did in Diagon. There was just so much more of it here and her system was not prepared for the shock. _Was this why you didn't hear much about British wizards traveling?_

By this time, Astrid was struggling to get a hold of her self and loosing terribly. She didn't even hear the Asian man that stopped next to her trying to get her attention. She didn't feel him shaking her arm in an attempt to get her to focus. She most definitely didn't feel the stunner that sent her into blissful darkness where she could no longer feel the overwhelming magic.

* * *

The Girl-Who-Lived woke up slowly and with the heavy feeling of a stunner being lifted. She tried to sit up but her head started spinning and she was forced to lay back with a groan or possibly throw up everything in her stomach. She didn't know where she was, or what had happened besides the fact that she had been stunned.

Before she could start panicking about being kidnapped, a voice next to her spoke in a heavily Japanese accented voice, "Stay still and keep calm. Your system had a shock and was threatening to collapse. I had no choice but to stun you and bring you here."

Astrid turned her head slowly to see an older Japanese man with long black hair tied into a low ponytail and intense dark brown eyes staring at her with a scrutinizing expression. He had an almost timeless look about him, making it nearly impossible to tell his age. She could only tell that he was much older than her. He was wearing loose black slacks and a white button up shirt and had an overcoat tossed over the back of the chair he was sitting in.

"What happened? And where am I?" Her voice was so hoarse it hurt to speak.

The man said nothing at first, just handed her a glass of cold water, which she slowly sat up to sip at. She drank the whole glass and once she was finished the man spoke. "I was hoping you could tell me what happened. From what I could tell, your magic was expanding further than your body could handle. And you are in my workshop. It is the only place I knew that could nullify magic. The runes keep magic blocked almost, so that it doesn't interfere with delicate experiments."

"I…what? Expanded?" She was so confused and her mind still felt muddled from being hit with such a strong stunner.

"Expanded. Your magic reserves nearly over filled. If that had happened you would have torn yourself apart. Along with the entire block you were standing in." He explained with a completely bland tone as if her turning into a bomb and blowing up an entire street wasn't a big deal.

"What!?" Her exclamation cause her throat to seize as her vocal cords worked harder than they usually did and a coughing fit wracked her frail body.

The man jumped up and rushed to get another glass of water, and stood at her side waiting for her fit to subside, unsure how to help her. He wasn't medically trained in anyway, nor had he been around an unwell child in many years.

As the coughing eased, Astrid gave a rough "thanks" and slowing sipped the water, no matter how much her body wanted her to chug it back. She knew better than to rush it after such a bad coughing fit. It didn't happen often, but when it did it was never pleasant.

After she finished the glass she looked back to the man that was now watching her wearily as if waiting for her to collapse. "I'm fine now." She reassured, but he didn't look convinced.

"I take it you had no idea that your magic was expanding like that." He said flatly.

Astrid shook her head, "I didn't even know that was possible."

"Hmm." He went back to scrutinizing her. "What happened before? Just before it happened. Maybe retracing your steps will lead to answers."

The young witch thought back and answered, "I just took a portkey from France. When I stepped outside of Gringotts, everything just seemed to hit me. The noise, the crowed of people, the different sights. My magic started going haywire and the magic in the land and in all of the objects around me overwhelmed me and rushed at me. Then I was panicking and my body wouldn't respond to me and no matter what I did, I couldn't reign my magic back in."

The man raised a surprised eyebrow and it was just then that she realized that she didn't even know his name.

"It sounds like you are extremely magic sensitive. A bit unusual in one so young, and only the most powerful of wizards and witches can feel magic to any large degree. It would explain your system getting a shock. From your accent I would guess you are from somewhere in Europe. It would make a bit more sense then. Everyone outside of the U.K. Knows that magic is dying in that continent. Your people do not respect The Balance there and it is causing the magic to weaken.

"For you to come here, as a magic sensitive, and not prepared for magic that is so much stronger than what you are used to, I'm astounded that you were able to last even a minute."

He looked a bit thoughtful then and added on, almost as an afterthought, "It doesn't explain your magic expanding though."

Ignoring that for just a moment, as well as the fact that not everyone could feel magic like she could, she asked in a shocked tone, "Europe's magic is dying? Why?"

"You do not respect The Balance." He repeated a bit slower as if she just couldn't understand the words.

"What balance?"

The man looked at her incredulously, "By the gods, what do they teach in your schools? The Balance. The Balance of Magic. The Light and Dark, Yin and Yang. Without one, the other cannot survive. Your people are so backwards that they practically worship one and vilify the other. It is causing an Imbalance and destroying the natural magic of the land. Surely you've noticed how much smaller your Magical community is compared to others?"

Astrid just stared at him in stunned silence. No one had ever mentioned a Balance to magic. And no, she never noticed that her community was smaller until she came here considering it's the first time she's traveled so far. She just thought that all magical communities were as small as Britain's.

"But, Dark Magic is dangerous…right?" She asked, feeling very lost. Everything she thought she knew, everything she was taught, it couldn't be wrong, could it?

The man sighed and rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. He couldn't blame the girl for her ignorance. She was taught to think certain ways, most likely from a young age.

"All magic can be dangerous Miss Potter. Light, Dark, and anything in between."

Astrid started at her name, turning surprised and weary green eyes to her host. He smiled in amusement and answered her unasked question, "I recognized your scar. You may not be idolized here as you are in Britain, but even we have heard your story."

She nodded and acceptance and finally asked, "What's your name?"

"Hayashi Akihiko. Akihiko being my given name. You may use it, if you wish."

Astrid gave a small smile and said, "call me Astrid."  
Akihiko bowed slightly in acceptance.

They were both silent for a while. Akihiko just studying his surprise guest and Astrid trying to make sense of her jumbled thoughts.

"If that didn't cause my magic to expand, then what did?" She asked after a moment.

Akihiko shrugged and somehow made that action look elegant, "Not many things. There is no type of substance that can replenish magic nor a spell. There is a disease that can cause your magic to reproduce at a rapid pace until in explodes, but you show no other symptom of it and not even my nullifying runes would have stopped it. The only logical conclusion that I can think of is that you were somehow absorbing the magic from the environment around you. Why, or how I'm not sure. But the fact that my runes did stop whatever was happening is a big point in this theory's favor."

Astrid thought very hard about that. Was she absorbing the magic from around her? It did make sense. It would explain the feeling of suddenly feeling overwhelmed and stretched too thin. She remembered feeling like the magic around her was reaching towards her, calling to her.

When she explained this to her host he gave her a rather pensive look. He studied her closely for a moment before apparently finding what he was looking for.

"Have you ever heard of a Leech?" He asked.

The girl gave him a confused look at the apparently random question. "The worm thing that latches on to you and sucks you're blood?"

He gave her an amused smile and said, "I don't mean the animal. A Leech is a witch of wizard that suffered great trauma early in life, before they learned to control their magic. It is a child that found them selves very close to death and their own magic was not enough to help them. They usually have an above average will to live, to fight, to survive. The near death state causes the victims magic to reach out in a last ditch, desperate plea for anything to save its host. If the magic is strong enough, desperate enough, then it can tug at the magic of the land itself to lend it its aid in saving its master. If the victims magic wins in a game of tug of war with the natural magic of the land, then it can succeed in saving the host, but it also becomes very much like a vacuum.

"Once the victims magic has tasted the magic that helped it, it can't help but want more. If the child does not learn to control it, then his or her magic will constantly be sucking in the foreign magic around it causing the child to constantly be over full of magic. If they become too over full, they can become very much like a walking bomb. One that can go off at anytime, killing themselves and anyone in the vicinity.

"This condition is known as Leeching, since they would literally be leeching the magic from everything around them. It is a very rare condition. More rare than even an Obscurus. Because it's so rare, there is no known way to learn to control it and many governments have banned anyone from trying. Some go so far as to kill the child themselves to keep him or her from ever having the chance to."

"But why!?" She breathed in horror.

He looked at her seriously, "Because the one known case of a Leech learning to control his condition was able to suck the magic out of his fellow wizards and witches. He could suck them dry, killing them in the process. He went mad with power and became so feared, most governments erased his very existence from their records."


	6. Chapter 6

_Mentions of past abuse._

 _I have replaced the previous note with chapter 5, you might need to go back and read it._

* * *

Astrid stared at the man in horror, unable to comprehend something so horrible. Voldemort was bad, and people feared to even speak his name, but no one had tried to erase any mention of him. He even had chapters written about him in defense books. This unnamed Leech must have been thrice as bad as Voldemort, something that the young witch didn't even want to think about.

"But, you can't be saying that you think I'm a Leech. Surely someone would have recognized the signs? And I've been around magic-heavy places for years, including Hogwarts, and I haven't exploded." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Akihiko.

The Japanese man shrugged, "It's possible. It's so rare that not many people even know such a thing exists, let alone know what to look for. And as I've said before, magic is dying in Europe. With how powerful you already are, you wouldn't have been able to suck up enough magic there to be in danger of exploding since your reserves would have been large enough to handle it.

"Even in Hogwarts, while it would have more magic, you would have been constantly using magic, counter balancing what little you couldn't handle. You most likely would have had a bit of trouble focusing on your studies with so much excess energy and trouble with more simple spells, while harder, more magic intensive ones would have been easier. It would have seemed like you had a form of ADHD at most.

"But here, where magic is free and thriving, you wouldn't stand a chance. If I hadn't found you, you would have sucked up so much and so quickly that the resulting explosion would have likely taken out the entire market."

"You're talking as if you've decided that that is for sure what I am!" Astrid glared at him, not willing to believe what he was saying.

"Well, did you have a near death experience as a child? You'd have to be no older than 7, or your magic would have been too developed to accept foreign magic without injuring you."

Astrid's eyes narrowed at the man, not wanting to answer. She had been close to death many times as a young girl. Being starved and beaten so often at an early age would do that after all. But had she been so close to death before that her own magic hadn't been enough to save her and had called for help?

With a sinking feeling she realized that yes, there had been one time that, to this day, she didn't understand how she had survived. It was when she was 5. It was the first and the only time that she had gotten sick. A kid at school had came in with the flu and gave it to nearly the entire class. Astrid had never had a flu shot, or had even been to the doctor before. She got sick.

Her relatives locked her in her cupboard, screeching about her not getting the rest of them ill. The didn't give her any water or food the whole week she was in there, and only a small bucket to get sick in. Her body was already undernourished by this time and had a hard time fighting off the virus. After a few days she was starving and dehydrated. Her body was wracked with tremors and she was hallucinating. Even at that age she knew she was going to die, alone and forgotten in the dark space of her cupboard.

She hadn't wanted to die. Even though her life had been nothing but pain and misery, she wanted to live. She wanted to live because of a dream. A half forgotten dream of a red headed woman with bright green eyes and a tall messy haired man that was always smiling so lovingly at her. She would have given anything to see an expression like that aimed at her in real life. Then there was kind man with a soft voice that liked to read her books and tell her fantastic stories that never really made sense to her. Lastly there was the big bear of a dog that was always being goofy, just to see her laugh. The dog that curl up with her to nap and made her feel so safe. The people in her dreams wanted her to live, live and be happy. Even as a flash of green light and maniacal laughter made them disappear and caused her to wake up in tears with just the impression of them left.

She wanted to live for them, because even if they were just a dream, they felt real. They cared for her. She was determined to find that in the waking world as well. Not everyone was as cruel as her relatives after all.

She remembered being angry that she was dying and there was nothing she could do. And then a peculiar feeling had washed over her. It felt like something was pouring into her body, giving it strength and chasing all of her aches and pains away. She felt life returning to her frail body and energy she didn't think she's ever have soured through her.

She didn't understand at the time, and later she just assumed it was her magic waking up, but after that day she always felt full of energy. Her chores didn't make her so tired, her injuries healed much faster, and accidental magic started happening much more frequently.

Now that she had a better understanding she realized that she had to be a Leech. It made much more sense.

"I see you are beginning to realize. You are in fact a Leech. One of the only ones to make it into their teens." Akihiko's smooth voice interrupted her thought process.

Astrid turned teary eyes to the man she now realized had saved not only her life with his actions, but the hundreds of lives that had been in the magical shopping district of Tokyo. "How can I learn to control it? I can't go back to Britain, not without becoming a martyr for the Light side in the war, but I can't even leave this room without turning into a walking disaster."

Akihiko gave her an understanding look. As soon as he realized who she was he had a suspicion of what she was doing alone in Japan. News of the growing war in the U.K. Had quickly spread to the other magical communities all over the world. What better weapon against the so called Dark Lord was there then the one that defeated him as a mere babe? The fact that she was only a 15 year old girl would hardly matter to some of the people of Britain.

"I suppose that I could be persuaded to help you out." He said thoughtfully. _Not to mention that studying a Leech in such close quarters would be right up my alley._

"I'll do anything!" She exclaimed, before back tracking quickly at his raised eyebrow, "well, not anything. But I'd be willing to pay you, I have quite a bit of money. Or I could work for you, I'm really good at cleaning without magic or with." She looked at him imploringly, "Please, I don't want to hurt anyone and I don't want to die." I haven't completed my dream yet.

"I supposed I could use an assistant. It will not be easy and you will have to work hard, both for me and getting your Leeching under control. You'll have to get rid of all of the conditioning those European wizards brainwashed you with because a lot of my work would be considered dark to them.

"I do not like laziness and can be considered a harsh task master. I do not expect perfection right off the bat, but I do expect your best. You will need to learn Japanese etiquette as well as being fluent in the language. I am an important figure here and will not have you embarrassing me in anyway.

"Do you accept?"

Despite the fact that Astrid did not know this man, did not know what work he did, or even what he would expect her to do, she didn't have much of a choice but to agree. She needed help to get control of this condition if she wanted to stay out of Europe. So, with only a little trepidation she slowly stood on shaky legs and gave a wobbly half bow. "I cannot thank you enough. I accept and promise to work hard and do my best."

Akihiko bowed as well, with a satisfied smile and said, "I look forward to working with you."

"You should get some more rest, you're still not fully recovered. I will come back in a couple of hours with a meal for you. You also have a letter waiting for you. I checked it for curses and the like but it only has a charm on it to allow only you to open it or it will set fire to itself. I will bring it with dinner."

With that said, the man turned on his heal, grabbed his overcoat from the chair and strode out of the room.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few days consisted mostly of rest and meditation. According to Akihiko, the first step to controlling her condition was _understanding_ her condition. Astrid wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but followed his instructions anyway.

Every day after breakfast, which would include her potions that her host would raise an eyebrow at but not comment on, she would sit in the center of her bed and try to meditate. It was harder than she thought it should be.

She couldn't seem to get her thoughts to quiet down. It didn't help that the letter that had come on her first day here had her so out of sorts. She truly hadn't expected the Dark Lord to respond to her letter. The fact that he not only wrote back, but expected a reply from her threw her for a loop.

Not sure how to answer, Astrid had left the letter sitting on her trunk. She would catch her eyes drifting over to it every now and then, only to jerk herself back to the task at hand; learning to meditate. How do you tell someone who has tried repeatedly to kill you that you quit the war because your school headmaster ruined your life and you want to stick it to him? If he didn't laugh himself sick she'd be surprised. He'd most likely think that she was over exaggerating the issue and just acting like a child by running away. She also couldn't figure out why she cared what he would think of her answer anyway.

With a frustrated huff, she gave up on meditating for the time being and grabbed the letter. She needed to sort this out so that her attention wouldn't be divided. Akihiko had made it very clear how important it was to control her Leeching. She needed to make some progress if she wanted him to continue helping her and she couldn't focus enough with this stupidity going on in her head.

Grabbing some parchment out of her trunk, she sat on the floor to start writing. It had been two days since the letter came and she would not delay it any further.

 _Voldemort,_  
 _I was never Dumbledore's lap dog like so many of your side seem to believe. Most of the time I just didn't know any better considering the very first magical person I had met was Hagrid and he sung Dumbledore's praises. Contrary to popular belief, I do not agree with everything he does. I don't even agree with most of it. He has been trying to mould me into the perfect martyr for the Light and control my every move. I got tired of playing a part. I just want to be left alone._  
 _Astrid Potter_

She hoped that would be enough for him. She looked back at the letter he sent and eyed the part about a vow. She had her misgivings about it, but decided to give one as long as he returned the favor. She wouldn't attack him anyway and being able to defend herself helped settle her nerves on being magically bound to not fight him. Astrid realized that it most likely meant not to oppose him politically either. She'd also go a step further and not say anything against him in public just to be on the safe side.

With that settled she set the letter to the side for Akihiko to send later and got back to her meditation exercises. The faster she learned some control, the faster she could leave this room. Already she could feel herself going a bit stir crazy.

Without the letter to distract her, meditating became a bit easier. She was able to clear her mind better and focus on the flow of her magic. She could feel it pushing and pulling like a tide inside her. It was constantly moving and after a bit, she could feel it constantly seeking as well. It didn't take a genius to figure out what exactly it was looking for.

Astrid could feel a little branch of her magic snaking out as if to grab something and then return when it didn't find what it was looking for. It was a very odd, "seeing" your magic acting like that. It was disconcerting.

"Any luck?" The voice of her host jerked her out of her fascination with how her magic was acting and she flailed for a second in surprise before tumbling backwards off of her bed with a startled squeak.

The young witch popped her head up to glare at the amused looking Japanese man that was clearing fighting a smile. "Yes. Until you decided to interrupt." She grumbled, trying in vain to hide her embarrassment as her pale cheeks flushed.

Akihiko just barely held in a laugh at the sight of the nearly 16-year old's glare. She looked like a bristled kitten.

"Have you reached your core?" He decided to take the safe route and not mention her tumble. She may not be able to use magic in his workshop at the moment, but he could clearly see her being able to hold a grudge until she could leave.

Akihiko moved around the small bed he had placed in there for her and over to his workbench that held a number of unidentifiable things and sat down as Astrid answered.

"I'm not sure. I've never meditated or had anyone explain what your core would feel like to know if I have reached it. I did find my magic. I also felt how it keeps searching for something. I assume this is the Leeching, but without a magical item around I can't be sure."

"Hmm." The older man looked thoughtful for a second, "It sounds like you're feeling the very edge of your system, but not the center core where true meditation will take you. It was constantly moving, yes?" At her nod he continued, "Then you are close to getting there. It also seems the Leeching might take place on the very edge of your system. We won't know for sure until you get to the center, but it makes sense that it would just be on the edge."

"Why would that make sense?" She asked almost eagerly, she loved learning new things, just not on Hermione's level.

"Well, most magic usage takes place from the edge of the magical system. Very, very few spells or even rituals will dig too deep into it. The center of your Magical core is where most internal magic pulls from.

"Think of it like layers I suppose. The outer layer is for external magic, simple spells and the like. Then you have the outer-middle ring which is just under the first layer and provides the more powerful magic for more magic intensive spells and nearly all ritual spells will pull from here as well. The inner-middle ring is where your reserves lie. This ring will be constantly pulling any excess magic from the outer ring that doesn't need to be there. Usually this ring will be much smaller than the two rings above it because most witches and wizards do not produce very much excess. Maybe a teaspoon or two at most, to give you something to visualize. This ring will store that extra magic for emergencies, either to provide the core more magic if your body was injured, or to provide the outer two rings more magic if for some reason you run low, like in battle or if you try to perform a spell too advanced. Lastly, you have the core. This holds the most magic, even though it is the smallest part of your magic system. The core provides the magic needed to keep your body functioning. It condenses the magic in it to make the magic more dense and powerful. If you get injured, this is the magic that will rush through your system to help keep you stable until help arrives. The more power the witch or wizard, the more this magic helps. Some people can even completely self-heal with just their core magic.

"This is also why your Leeching is so dangerous. Your reserve ring is pulling all of that excess magic in with nowhere for it to go. Your reserves are constantly growing and stretching to accommodate this, which at a slow rate like what was happening to you in Europe would have been completely safe, as your entire system had the time to adjust, but when you came here and started sucking up much more than you were used to or could handle your reserves started to overfill.

"This is especially dangerous because your reserves are so close to your core. Like I said before, the core condenses all of its magic into a small ball. If your reserves exploded it would just kill you, but your core is like a bomb and with your reserves so close to that potential bomb, when they explode it would hit your core directly, causing it to explode as well which would be a much more powerful blast."

Astris went pale as she listened, but made sure to remember every word he was saying. No one had explained how the magical system inside her worked. It was very interesting, if a little terrifying to know that every witch or wizards was walking around with a potential bomb inside them. Hers was just a bit more unstable apparently.

"So," she started, "the reason that it makes sense to Leech from the outer ring is because that's where most magical activity takes place? But you said that Leeching comes from a child almost dying and not having powerful enough magic to save them. If the core is what heals the body, shouldn't that be were the Leeching started from?"

Akihiko smiled, flashing straight white teeth as the girl proved to be listening to him and answered, "That's true, but like I said, the core only uses magic internally. It cannot reach past its borders like the outer rings can. The core relies heavily on the reserves to keep it filled, the reserves can only get magic from the outer rings. When a magical is close to dying, all of the layers work over time to keep the system going and keep you alive. If the core empties, the reserves will fill it until it doesn't need more, or they run out. If the reserves run out, but the core still needs more, it will take from the outer ring until it doesn't need more. If that still isn't enough then it will move on to the outer-middle ring. If none of this is enough then you die. Usually. The body cannot survive without there being enough magic in the core. It is what separates us from muggles so thoroughly. They have never had magic, so their body does not rely on it. We however have had it sense birth. Before that, some will argue. We were surrounded by magic since the womb. We rely on it. The core gives our bodies the magic we need. No magic in the core, our bodies shut down."

"Wow. Why don't they teach this at school?" It seemed like important information to know.

The man shrugged, "It is taught at every Japanese school. I cannot tell you whether it is or isn't outside of that, or why."

"So, the outer layer is the only one capable of taking from outside the body. Which makes Leeching coming from there make the most sense." Astrid recited, mainly to herself but also to make sure she got it right. She also might have wanted to see another proud smile on his face, only Sirius had ever looked at her like that, she missed it.

Akihiko didn't disappoint, his teeth flashed in another smile as he said, "Very good. You are proving to be a fast learner."

Astrid just gave him a shy smile.

"Now, continue to meditate until you reach your core. It will feel like you are surrounded in warmth. The magic will be moving in a slow spiral feeling instead of the push and pull feeling from before. If you are completely healthy, you will barely fill any movement in the core. It will be moving, obviously, it will be just a lot less chaotic. The core has veins, almost. It keeps magic flowing throughout your body, following your cardiovascular system. If you ever manage to master meditation, you will be able to follow your magic through your entire body. You don't need to go that far. I just want you to be able to monitor your core to make sure there is never any dangerous disturbances there.

"After you find your core, get used to how it should feel, and be able to reach that deep of meditation in a small-time frame, I will start bringing in magical items that don't have a lot of magic. Then you will feel how your magic is sucking it in and learn to stop it. After you learn that, we can move you out of this room. I won't want to take you into any heavily magical places until you get some mastery over your condition and then we'll take it slowly.

"You're in for the long hall dear one, but the fact that you can already pinpoint the Leeching is a plus in your favor. It might not take as long as I feared."

Astrid breathed a sigh of relief. Truthfully, she was expecting to be stuck in this room for months to years. She would have gone insane.

"I'll bring lunch down in an hour, try reaching your outer ring quicker than last time. Once you got that down, move deeper."

The British witch smiled and nodded her understanding, "Could you send this for me?" She quickly snatched the letter to Voldemort and handed it over when he agreed, "and my owl, Hedwig she should be finding me soon. She's a snowy owl and very important to me. Could you keep a look out for her?" She questioned quietly, not wanting to push her boundaries. He was helping her enough after all.

Akihiko just smiled calmly and agreed to take care of the owl, should she arrive.


	8. Chapter 8

Astrid felt like she was floating in a warm pool of swirling water. It moved around and around in a rapid yet smooth spiral. She thought that she should feel dizzy, with the turning and spinning, but she just felt peaceful. She felt welcomed by this pool and warmed from the inside out. She never wanted to leave.

It was with a bit of effort that she brought herself out of the meditative trance. She had never felt so safe and comforted before.

Akihiko knew the moment that his new charge found her core. He had been watching her curiously for a minute when he had come down to work on a new research project. She always had a tenseness around her, even when she slept, like she was expecting to be attacked at any given time.

When she found her core, her entire body seemed to nearly go boneless as she relaxed for what had to have been the first time in a long time. A truly beautiful smile lit up her youthful face and made her actually look like the teenager she was, instead of the weary adult that the world forced her to be.

The change in her made a small smile curl on the Japanese man's face. It was in that moment that he truly felt that he was doing the right thing in helping the young witch. He knew she would get control of her Leeching and when she did, he would truly take her under his wing. He would teach her all he knew and encourage her to go beyond what he did. It was about time he got an apprentice anyway, he wasn't exactly young any more.

Astrid awoke from her trance with the peaceful feeling still echoing in her system, and slowly fading away. She still felt relaxed and rejuvenated almost..

"I see you have found your center." The voice of Akihiko had her instinctively tensing, if slightly less than she usually would.

She looked up at him with a slight smile to see him sitting on his work stool and watching her with a soft expression on his face. She smiled a bit brighter at the man and nodded. "Yes, I think I did. It was warm, and swirling in a spiral, like you described. It was just moving a bit faster than you said it should."

"That doesn't surprise me. I told you that a completely healthy person would barely feel movement." He said softly, a slight frown on his face. "I'm sorry to say, but you, my dear, are far from healthy."

Astrid cringed slightly at that. It seemed like everyone she had talked to since leaving Britain mentioned how horrible she looked. She was going to get a complex at this rate.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of Miss. Potter. It's obvious that you have been through too much in your short life. And at least you are taking steps to correct it." He nodded towards the crate of potions setting against the wall by her bed.

She gave him a shy smile and a thankful look. At least he understood. "Please call me Astrid. Miss. Potter makes me feel like I'm in school."

He gave her an amused look but nodded his head. "Why don't you take a break for a snack and then we can try bringing in a magical item."

Astrid hummed in agreement. It had been three weeks since she had come to Japan and already she could see improvement in her over all health. She had gained some much-needed weight, her skin, though still pale from lack of sun, was no longer pasty and had a subtle glow of health, and her hair was no longer brittle and dull. She was still a bit skinnier than she should be, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been.

The young witch had to send Healer Enzo a letter explaining that an emergency came up and she would not able to come in for a checkup at the present time. She had only sent it a few days ago, so she wasn't expecting a reply for a few more days.

The Dark Lord had yet to wright back but she had a feeling that she would get his reply any time now.

* * *

 **The Dark Lord**

Lord Voldemort was beyond amused at the anarchy that the Potter girl had caused by leaving. Severus had come to him as soon as he was able to inform him of her emancipation and pulling herself out of Hogwarts. It had been a blatant declaration of her stance against Dumbledore. To voluntarily take herself out of his care and the school he ran showed exactly what she thought of the aging wizard.

The chaos was beautiful.

Now, the Order was close to breaking apart. At the moment there seemed to be three different sides arguing against each other. It would seem that the Weasley's, the Granger girl, and the Light's pet werewolf were wanting to find the girl, but keep her far away from the old goat as they blamed him for her leaving. They didn't seem to care about needing her to beat him, they just wanted her safe and happy.

Then there was the side that had just given up on her and was arguing that they didn't need a teenager to win the war anyway. These consisted of Shacklebolt, the metamorphmagus, Moody, and Vance.

The last side was Dumbledore's. It was him, Mundungus Fletchr, Dedalus Diggle, and Hestia Jones and a few other nobodies. They fully believed that the nearly 16-year-old witch was the only one capable of defeating him. They planned on tracking her down and forcing her compliance.

Severus had even showed him the memory of Dumbledore receiving the letter that Potter sent to pull herself out of the school. The absolutely astounded and horrified look on the old man's face had him cackling.

The girl had unintentionally done him a huge favor by disrupting his only true opposition. Just for that he was planning on allowing her to make the vow to not oppose him, no matter what her answer to his question had been. He had to repay the girl for the entertainment she had provided somehow.

Later that day, one of the largest owls the Dark Lord had ever seen came swooping through the window that was specifically for owl post. It was bigger than a horned owl and consisted of light to dark brown feathers. It's eerie yellow eyes seemed to bore into him as it held out its leg with a letter attached.

Lord Voldemort narrowed his eyes at the bird. He did not recognize this owl. In fact, he was quite sure that this wasn't even an owl native to Europe. As of the moment, he had no business going on outside of this continent, so an Asian owl suddenly showing up was suspicious.

He carefully cast every detection spell he had, but everything came up clean.. Carefully, he removed the envelope from its leg, but it stayed put for a reply.

The Dark Lord raised a sculpted eyebrow in surprise at seeing Voldemort written in an untidy scrawl in the center. Only one person was bold enough to address a letter to him as such. Apparently, the girl decided to completely leave the continent and not just the country. Smart.

After a quick read through he snorted at the contents. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable disclosing the full reason she had left but he knew what it was like for Dumbledore to ruin someone's life. He did it surprisingly a lot for someone who proclaims to be the benevolent leader of the Light. Getting as far away from the old man as she could, was a good move on her part if the Headmaster had really been interfering too much with her business. Which was a good bet. The girl was prophesied to defeat him, the old man wouldn't be able to help himself.

 _Potter,_  
 _I will accept your answer and agree to leave you alone as long as you willingly take an oath to never oppose me. Gringotts is available as a neutral territory for such business if you agree to a meeting to discuss what the oath will entail. They have conference rooms available to rent. You may choose the date and time to prove that this is not a trap. Bring one trusted person to accompany you if you must._  
 _The Dark Lord Voldemort_

* * *

 **Astrid**

Astris huffed in frustration and glared heatedly at the now magicless child's toy sitting uselessly in front of her. Akihiko had decided that it was best if they started small with her learning how to stop the Leeching. He went out and bought a bunch of toddler toys that had a minimal amount of magic in them, just enough for them to spin or light up for a child's entertainment. It wasn't going well.

As soon as the toy got within a foot of her, her magic was sucking it up like someone dying of thirst when presented a glass of water. It happened so quickly that she didn't even have time to find the strands of her magic that was doing it.

With a groan, she tossed the toy onto the ever-growing pile of useless trinkets. This was ridiculous. She knew it was going to difficult, but she hasn't even been able to attempt to stop her magic. It happened too quick for her to even grab on to it.

Akihiko gave her a thoughtful look and spoke, "Perhaps we are going about this the wrong way."

Astrid turned her attention to her companion and waited for him to elaborate..

"I think we are trying to go a bit too fast. Let's slow down a bit. I want you to meditate for me, but only go far enough to feel the magic that is trying to Leech. Once you find that, I will bring in another toy and you will get the chance to observe what you magic is actually doing. Then you can try and see what it will take to stop it from happening."

The witch nodded her agreement and immediately settled into her meditative position. She closed her eyes and evened her breathing. It didn't take long for her to reach the edge of her magic system.

Soon after, she observed strings of her magic shoot out and latch onto something outside of her awareness. She felt a shift in her magic as it pulled back into her, bringing more magic back than what went out. She could even feel the difference in what was originally hers, and what she had taken in, but soon after, the magic acclimatized to her own and she no longer could differentiate between them.

Astrid opened her eyes and saw the magic-less toy in front of her, but only payed partial attention to it. Most of her focus was still inward, monitoring her own magic still.

"Could you bring another in?" She spoke barely above a whisper, trying her hardest to not lose focus.

Akihiko did not respond verbally, but she saw him move to the door out of her peripheral vision. He soon came back, a new toy in hand. He tossed it to her and as she felt her magic strike out to grab it, she mentally clamped down on the strands before they made contact.

The searching strands halted in place just inches from their target. Astrid felt a bead of sweat make its way down her face as she concentrated on reeling her magic back in. It was slow going. While her magic didn't fight back, exactly, it clearly didn't want to listen to her either. She struggled for a couple of minutes before succeeding in pulling in all back in, leaving the toy still lightning up and shooting different colored smoke.

She was panting harshly and struggling to keep her magic in her core and it rolled around and sought a way to get passed her. With a frustrated snarl she gave a harsh mental tug at a strand that nearly got by and it retreated with an almost scolded air about it. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to try something else.

Picturing an invisible shield around her magic, she finally got it to obey. With the mental wall between it and outside magic, it could no longer escape to suck more in. It just took a lot of mental effort and was something that would take a long time to perfect.

"I think I got it. This method isn't exactly practical and I can feel it already slipping." Astrid grunted and gritted her teeth as she tried in vain to keep the wall up.

Too soon for her liking, the young witch felt a mental _snap_ and the air rushed out of her lungs as her magic surged forward and greedily sucked up the magic in the toy. The toy sputtered to a stop and Astrid fell flat on her back in exhaustion, feeling like she had just run a marathon while simultaneously battling Voldemort. Her head pounded and the room spun for a second but settled after a minute or two.

"Are you well, Child?" She hadn't noticed Akihiko kneeling at her side with a worried look on his time-less face.

Astrid took a moment to just breath as she struggled to organize her thoughts into coherent speech. "That was more exhausting than I thought it would be.."

"What exactly did you do?" His tone was equal parts worried and curious as he helped her sit up.

"At first I just grabbed onto the magic that was seeking out more and pulled it back in. It didn't really fight me, but it was clearly reluctant to follow my command. When keeping it back became too much, I tried to form a mental barrier around it to keep it in. That method worked, my magic didn't even try to get past it, like it could no longer feel the outside magic that it wanted so it didn't try. The problem was that it took too much concentration to keep up and for some reason, it seriously exhausted me."

The Japanese man reared back in astonishment at what she had just described. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Astris just looked confused and Akihiko laughed. "What you just described is the highest form of Occulmency. I can almost guarantee that had I tried to breech your mind while you were concentrating, I would have failed. No wonder you are so exhausted. Occulmency is an extremely difficult branch of magic and you skipped nearly all of the beginner steps and went straight to the top.. I'm actually surprised that you're not passed out right now from mental strain."

"But, I'm horrible at Occlumency. I had a teacher try to teach me for nearly a whole year and he said that I was so rubbish at it that I wouldn't even be able to keep a first-year out." Astris argued.

"Well, for one, it is unrealistic for anyone to even get past the basics for Occlumency in a year, let alone get to the point of keeping anyone with knowledge of Legilimency out." He explained with a serious look, "It takes time, years in fact, to become decent in the art. It causes a lot of mental strain, especially at first. There is no fast track in Occlumency, you must take the time to train your mind to handle it.

"There is a lot of separate parts to the art. Not only does it protect your mind from outside penetration, but it also increases your memory storage and fact recall. A master Occlumence would actually create an artificial eidetic memory. Not only that, but it improves concentration and helps control your emotions so that you only react to emotional situations if you choose to.

"There is also one more part that many who actually study occlumency don't know. Occlumency isn't just a discipline of the mind, it is a discipline of the magic as well. A master Occlumence is a master of their magic. They become so in-tune with their magic that they no longer need a wand for most spells. Oh, they still need one for the most difficult of magics, but for everyday things, they can be completely wandless. There are very few people that are legitimate Masters of Occlumency. In fact, I can count on one hand how many have actually made it to mastery."

Astrid was stunned at this information. Snape had never really explained what Occlumency was and Dumbledore had only spoken of her being able to shield her mind from Voldemort. She had tried looking it up in the library but even asking Madame Pince had turned up nothing.

"So, you see why it is unwise to rush through learning such a thing? Without caution and proper preparation, you chance overloading your mind which could result in disastrous consequences. One of the most known cases of someone trying to skip steps in learning it overwhelmed their mind so much that is shut down. It has been 20 years and he is still in the Hospital unresponsive. Healers have given up on him ever waking considering he practically destroyed his own mind."

The girl's eyes widened in disbelief and fear. She could have destroyed her mind? _Snape_ could have destroyed her mind!?

"What are the proper steps for learning? So far this seems like the best bet on controlling my magic. I might be able to come up with a temporary fix for it so that I can go outside for a little bit, considering that Occlumency apparently takes years to learn, but I'm willing to work for it if it helps me control my magic."

Akihiko smiled, "You've already completed the first step, which is meditation. That step always differs between people. For some, like you, it takes no more than a week or two. For others, it can take months to learn.

"The next thing is to start organizing your mind. Most do this by mentally picturing some sort of filing system and ordering your memories that way.

"Third is to go through every memory thoroughly. This part can be the longest and the hardest to complete for the goal is to learn about and accept yourself. Everyone has regrets and things that they wish to forget, things that are painful to think about. Without accepting everything about yourself and that has happened to you, you will never be a true Occlumence. You can skip this step and still be a decent one, but only be able to shield your mind from outside forces and maybe have better memory recall. This is what most Occlumence actually do which is why there are so few masters. It is very difficult for most to accept themselves and let go of the past.

"After this step, if you complete it, is to start building your mental barriers. This is where training your mind becomes important. It takes a lot of time and patience. You need to build your barrier and concentrate on keeping it up for as long as you can safely manage before releasing it and repeating. It will be a lot like a workout for your brain and should really only be worked on every other day, allowing your mind to rest in-between. Eventually, you will get to the point that keeping it up takes very little effort and you can keep it up for days at a time without even realizing it.

"That could be considered the last step, but to be truly considered an expert, or master, you need to be tested. This means that you need to find a trusted, skilled Legilimence and have them attempt to penetrate your barrier. Most will succeed the first few times. This will then develop into more brain workout sessions that will leave you with migraines and exhaustion. At first, you will train in misdirection. Once the Legilimence breaks through, which they will, you will attempt to throw them off with random useless memories or thoughts to distract them and then work to throw them out. This is very difficult, but it needs to be learned.

"After you succeed in throwing them out a few times, you work on strengthening your barrier so that a breech does not happen. After that, it is a matter of whose will is the strongest. If the Legilimence has a greater desire to be in your mind than you do to keep them out, they will win."

Astrid absorbed this information in astonished yet furious silence. If this is how you learn Occlumency then _**what the hell had Snape been doing!?**_

"None of this is how my teacher attempted to teach me. He hadn't even mentioned the meditation step, let alone anything else." She muttered angrily.

Akihiko raised an eyebrow in wonder, "Then how was he teaching you?"

"He would tell me to clear my mind and then use Legilimency to dive in and I would have to try and force him out. I only succeeded once when he was looking at something that I considered extremely private."

Akihiko's face could have been made of stone for all the expression he showed at the girl's explanation. His eyes were furious.

"And was he considered a certified teacher?" His voice was deceptively soft.

"I...I'm not sure. He was my potions professor and Headmaster Dumbledore ordered him to teach me after assuring me that he was an expert in the art and would teach me to the best of his ability. I believed when Dumbledore said he was an expert, he would have to be to continue spying on Voldemort and reporting back to Dumbledore, but I doubted his desire to teach me. Professor Snape has never hidden how much he hated me, from the day I first stepped foot into Hogwarts. He wouldn't even help with the subject he actually taught, so I didn't have high hopes for him teaching me this."

 **"He could have torn apart your mind!"** It was the first time she had heard the usually mild-mannered man shout. His face was contorted into a furious expression and his magic swelled up in his anger and blanketed the room in the man's very dark grey aura.

Astrid shifted in slight discomfort, but she didn't feel threatened by the display. If anything, she felt comforted by him being so angry on her behalf.

Akihiko took a deep breath and visibly reigned in his emotions. "I apologize, but what he was doing was the opposite of teaching you Occlumency. Not only could he have turned you into a vegetable, but he most likely left your mind wide open to any outside force. Any natural resistance to Legilimency, or even mind altering magics would have been gone."

Astrid paled and swayed lightly where she sat. Snape had been opening her mind up even more? Was it done on purpose? It had to have been. But now the question was, on whose orders did he do so? Dumbledore or Voldemort? Or did he hate her so much that he ignored Dumbledore's orders to teach her and wanted to hurt her so badly that he did this? _She just didn't know._


	9. Chapter 9

_I do not speak Japanese. I don't want to accidentally butcher the language with any attempts to write it. Any Japanese spoken will be in English in italics and underlined much like this note is._

* * *

A meeting. The Dark Lord wanted to meet. As in face to face. Astrid didn't know what to think about that as she stared blankly at the short letter clutched in her hand. She should have seen it coming, really. Of course, he would want to meet. How else would he have proof that she actually took an oath to not oppose him?

She wouldn't be able to actually meet him for a few more months _at least_. She wouldn't be ready to be in any magically abundant place for a while yet. The messy haired girl had only just gotten the hang of not sucking out the magic in the children's toys that hardly had any magic to begin with. She still couldn't step foot outside of Akihiko's magic suppressing work shop.

Even if Astrid was capable of wondering around outside, she didn't think she was ready to face her once enemy and the killer of her parents. She had years of pent up resentment and hatred to work through when it came to him that she couldn't just let go of overnight.

She was working on it though. In the last week, she organized all of her thoughts and was now going through each one, starting from the very first memory that she could remember, in an attempt to accept herself and everything that has happened to her.

At first, she didn't understand why this step was even necessary. What did it even have to do with becoming a master Occlumence? But Akihiko had explained. Explaining was something he was very good at, and he never got annoyed with her seeming endless questions.

He explained that your mind and magic needed to be completely in tune to master occlumency and when your mind was in turmoil, your magic was much harder to control as it worked to fix whatever had made the mind so out of sorts. He said that most don't even realize that their magic was weaker than it should be because everyone had regrets and things they wish to forget. Most don't even realize that they are either hiding, or trying to bury parts of themselves.

By going through all of your memories, there is no hiding from what you wish to forget. By accepting every single part of yourself and putting to rest any and all mental demons, you truly become whole in body, mind, and magic. Without being whole, you will never reach your full magical potential.

It really explained what was wrong with her friend Neville, besides obviously using the wrong wand. She could feel how powerful her friend truly is, but he would never believe that with his overbearing grandmother trying to turn him into his father instead of letting him be himself.

She was already having problems with this step. The earliest memory that she can recall is Voldemort killing her mother and trying to kill her. By going over and meditating on this memory, she came to some startling realizations. She didn't just blame Voldemort and Pettigrew for the death of her family.

She actually blamed her parents themselves.

It startled her so badly, that she had been subconsciously resenting her parents for not leaving the country, for trusting the wrong person, for not fighting harder to live, she stopped her progress completely and sat in a stupor of self-hate, unable to believe her own selfishness. What kind of person blamed their dead parents for being murdered? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

 _"Making progress?"_ The question, spoken in Japanese startled her out of her thoughts.

It took her a couple of seconds to actually translate what he said and formulate a reply. Akihiko had taken to speaking mostly in Japanese around her to work on her skills in the language. She had the basics of it down when reading and even writing some dialects of it, but speaking and hearing it still tripped her up sometimes.

 _"Hit snag. Unable get past."_ Her sentence structure was choppy at best, but she was sure it was easy enough for him to understand.

 _"Unable, or Unwilling?"_ He had a knowing look on his face and something in his voice told of slight disappointment. It made her cringe internally. She had only been with him a little over a month, but she already looked up to him a great deal. He has gone out of his way to help her when he really didn't need to. She hated disappointing him. It was the first time that she had, to her knowledge.

Astrid couldn't meet the older man's knowing gaze, so she focused on the cement flooring. _"I...I'm.."_ Unable to think of the right word, she switched to English with a defeated sigh.

"I am afraid."

She felt him take a seat next to her on her bed, but didn't look his way. She had never admitted to being afraid before. She didn't fear Voldemort, or any of his lackeys, she didn't fear pain, or death, she didn't even fear her relatives. Yet, she feared herself? She feared what kind of person she really was on the inside.

"What do you fear?" She dreaded his question because to admit it out loud made it more real. By acknowledging it, she would be unable to deny it.

"Myself. I fear myself. What kind of person I really am. What I'm capable of doing. What I will do in the future." She sighed and then looked to her teacher with teary eyes, begging him to understand. "What if I turn out to be some sort of sociopath that ends up like the leech that was so horrible his very name was completely stuck form history?"

She didn't realize that tears were pouring form her eyes until the older man pulled her into a hug and she felt his shirt grow damp under her face. Astrid was shocked into stillness. Akihiko had never initiated contact other than a pat on the head. He seemed to instinctively know that she was uncomfortable with most forms of contact or signs of affection. He was usually too reserved for such displays anyway.

"Listen to me, Little One. All of us, every single person on this planet, is capable of doing great evil. Just as we are all capable of doing great good. We all have good and evil inside of us, constantly battling for dominance. It is the will of the person that decides the winner.

"You can go about your life fearing what you are capable of, doing neither good, nor bad, or you can gather the courage, that I know you have plenty of, and realize that even if you are capable of evil, you have a strong enough will and moral compass to never give in to those urges. You have a lot of heart, Astrid Potter. If anyone is capable of doing great things, it's you.

"You just have to understand that one person's version of good, can be very different to another person. This alone is what has caused many wars to be fought."

He held her for a while longer as she cried into his chest. He knew how much she needed this. The young girl was almost boneless in his arms as she sobbed, for once completely trusting someone other than her godfather while she was emotionally vulnerable.

It didn't take long to pull herself together. She pulled back to wipe her now red and puffy eyes, before giving the man a smile in gratitude. Akihiko had just become the person that she trusted most in the world at that moment and she was determined to work through her issues and make him proud. She would learn to accept, and trust, herself. She would not let him down.

* * *

Akihiko gave the girl a smile as he left her to it, all the while inwardly wondering what it was about the child that made him want to help her, that made him accept her into his life. What made him slowly start thinking of her as family?

* * *

Astrid gave a determined nod to herself and grabbed some parchment and a quill. She would not be ready, mentally or magically, to meet with her once enemy for a while yet. Hopefully he wouldn't take it as her trying to get out of taking an oath. She would have to work hard on this letter to convince him.

* * *

 _ **With the Order of the Pheonix**_

The order was officially in shambles. Dumbledore tried his best to hold it together, but with the one person, that they had been placing their hopes on, jumping ship and disappearing, it was more difficult than he had thought.

Everyone had an opinion they wanted heard, everyone thought that they knew what to do next, and only a few were listening to him anymore. It was enough to make him lose the twinkle in his eyes. The Weasley clan were straight up ignoring him and anything he had to say. Remus had disappeared and no one knew, or would say where, he went. Moody and Kingsley were planning how to go about the war without the Prophesized savior, and Minerva hadn't spoken to him in days unless it pertained to the coming school year.

He needed to find the brat before everything crashed around him. Tom had to be defeated and she was the only one capable of doing it. Whether she wanted to or not.

* * *

Hermione and Ron were watching Dumbledore worriedly. It was obvious that he was struggling to keep up his usual benign grandfather look and was slowly losing his temper. He had a scheming look in his twinkless eyes that didn't bode well for their missing friend.

They were both angry and sad that Astrid had ran off, but only because she had left without a single word to them. Did she not trust them after everything they had been through together? Did she truly think that they would choose their Headmaster over their best friend?

It didn't matter to them that Dumbledore was the leader of the Light, or that he was a powerful wizard. Their loyalty would always remain with the scruffy little girl that had easily befriended two nervous children that no one else wanted to talk to. The girl that stuck with them and forgave them the times they did something that jeopardized their friendship.

They needed a way to let her know that no matter what, even if she wanted to join the Dark for some Merlin forsaken reason, they would follow. They would question her sanity, but they would follow.

Hermione grabbed some knitting supplies to keep her hands busy while she worried and it was while she was working on a House Elf sized hat that a thought struck her. She turned sharply to her red-headed friend and whispered urgently to him, "Dobby!"

Ron gave her a bewildered and somewhat worried look, "Hermione, I'm Ron."

Resisting the temptation of allowing her palm to meet her face, the bushy-haired book-worm grabbed hold of the boy and pulled him, unnoticed, from the room. She dragged him all the way to his room, since the Burrow was the new meeting place for the Order after Sirius had died, and pushed him in.

"Dobby!" She called with the intent for the little guy to hear instead of just saying his name like before.

With a pop the odd little elf appeared in front of them. "The Great Astrid Potter's Miss Hemry called for Dobby?" He squeaked excitedly.

"You can just call me Hermione, Dobby." The witch said, a bit uncomfortable with the near fanatic worship the elf displayed for her friend.

Dobby just smiled and bounced a bit, waiting to know why he was called.

Hermione sighed, "If I gave you a letter, could you get it to Astrid? Are you capable of finding her?"

The elf nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, Miss Hermy. An elf anyways knows where their master is!"

"That's grea...wait, Master? But I thought you were a free elf?" Ohhhh Astrid was getting a stern talking to for this!

Dobby shook his head, a big smile on his face, "The Great Astrid Potter asked Dobby to be her elf once she found out that Dobby was being ill from no proper bond."

"Ill...?"

"Not now Hermione, you can ask about elf bonds later." Ron interrupted once he realized what his friend had called the elf for. "If you can find Astrid, could you take us to her instead of just a letter?"

Dobby shook his head negatively, "The Great Astrid Potter be under strong wards that don't allow magic through. Dobby be made of magic. Dobby can pop letter through with house elf magic, but to take wizards or even go in himself would be impossible." He seemed really down about that fact.

Ron deflated in disappointment, but a letter was better than nothing.

Hermione was quick to produce parchment and a quill and started writing a letter that ended up being quite a few pages long. Once she was done, and Ron added what he wanted which was much shorter, they handed the letter the elf and he popped away.

* * *

 _ **Lord Voldemort**_

The owl was back with another letter from Astrid Potter. While he still used his diagnostic charms on it, he no longer expected to find anything attached to the parchment.

 _Lord Voldemort_  
 _I'm sorry to say that I'm in a bit of a bind and will not be able to meet for a few months yet. Please be assured that I **will** give an oath as soon as I am able and that I am in no way attempting to get out of doing so._  
 _Once I am free and able to travel back to Britain I will endeavor to set up a meeting with you to discuss what the oath will entail and then I will willingly give it before we leave Gringotts as I'm sure you will demand. All I ask is that you be willing to take an oath yourself to not knowingly attempt to harm me._  
 _I understand that even this is a lot to ask from someone such as yourself but I will need assurance of my own safety as much as you do._  
 _I will aim to be fit for travel by Yule, as I want to get all of this out of the way and behind us both as soon as possible and do not seek to delay it in any way that is avoidable._  
 _Now, I was hoping to ask you a couple questions if you don't mind? I will not be offended if you refuse, but I will be willing to answer any question that is of equal value to one that you answer. For some time now, I have been wondering what actually started this war and what your side's goals actually are. When asked, the Light side always answers that you want nothing more than to subjugate those you deem less than you and to wipe out all of the muggles. This has never made much sense to me as you have a very large and diverse following. You would not have much of a side if these were your only goals or if you truly were the raving lunatic the Light describe you as._  
 _Hope to hear from you soon,_  
 _Astrid Potter._

Voldemort raised an eyebrow curiously. The letter was much more formally written than he thought the girl capable of. While he found that odd, he assumed she was trying to avoid him becoming angry at the delay of their meeting.

He didn't mind the wait _too_ much as long as she stayed out of the country until they could meet for the oath. He was curious about the cause, but knew he would never get an answer out of her.

It was interesting to see that she was actually curious about his goals and didn't just take Dumbledore's word for everything. That proved she wasn't a sheep at least. It gave him a bit of hope that instead of being neutral, she'd actually join him. With a bit of training the Potter girl would be a force to be reckoned with. He decided to answer the questions. He had a few of his own after all.


	10. Chapter 10

Remus Lupin was on a mission. His steps were determined, but silent as he stalked down the dingy Alley, passing unseen in the shadows of the rundown buildings. His usually soft and friendly brown eyes were glowing a nearly golden color, showing proof of what he was and that his wolf was very close to the surface.

The usually mild-mannered man normally had much better control of his more animalistic side. On a normal day you would be hard-pressed to even tell that he was a werewolf. But this was not a normal day. The lone pup of his now dead pack was missing. He knew she was still alive, the girl was far too stubborn to have died without a long, drawn out fight that would have been noticed by others. While Remus may not have known Astrid as well as Sirius did, he knew she was a survivor. He would find her, the last remaining member of his pack, and never let her out of his sight again.

Which brought him here, deep down Knockturn Alley, and standing in the shadows across from a frequent hang out for dark creatures. It was a Bar and Inn, much like the Leakey Cauldron in Diagon. It didn't have a name, but most just called it the Den. Remus, himself, had never been there as most other dark creatures looked down on him for his support of the light. Of course, most didn't realize that he didn't, in fact, support the light. He actually hated must of their ideals. He was loyal to his pack though, and they had either been as light as could be (James and Lily) or wanted to be light and stick it to his family (Sirius).

The reason that Remus had even ventured to this place was just now exiting the Den and stalking toward him with the grace of any top predator. His hair was wild and silver-grey in color, his eyes a golden amber, and a sharp goatee adorned his strong face. His gate was smooth and even, his posture confident and aggressive and his frame was much larger than average. He was the Alpha Werewolf that ruled these parts. Fenrir Greyback.

"Lupin." The Alpha's voice was a rumbling growl as he stopped a couple of feet away from the lone werewolf. His animalistic and nearly feral eyes bored into the younger wolf as Remus's own golden eyes met his own, then looked down in slight submission, though he refused to bear his neck. Greyback wasn't his Alpha, after all, but Remus was in his territory now, so some respect was due if he wanted to get what he came there for.

"Greyback." Remus kept his voice even and devoid of any type of emotion, which would mostly be negative toward the one that turned him so many years ago.

"What is the Light's pet doing so far in my Territory? Finally grow a spine and decided to jump ship?" His tone was mocking as he watched the other werewolf stiffen and the scent of anger drifted toward him for a moment before the younger male reigned it in.

"No." Remus fought not to snarl the word as his wolf raged at being called a pet. "I need to see the Dark Lord."

Greyback couldn't hide the widening of his eyes, or the scent of surprise quick enough and Remus nearly laughed but refrained. He needed to stay off of Fenrir's bad side if he wanted to succeed in his mission, which was getting to Voldemort.

Oh, he knew that the Dark Lord didn't have his pup. Severus had smelled completely honest when he had reported that. But he had a feeling that the Leader of the Dark would know her general whereabouts, if not her actual location. The man had always seemed to know where the girl was as every year they seemed to run afoul of each other.

Remus very rarely actually listened to his instincts. He had spent the majority of his life denying his wolf in every way. They had tried to warn him that the Rat wasn't trustworthy, that Dumbledore had a hidden agenda, and that his pup was in danger constantly. He had ignored it all and look what happened. So, now that his instincts were telling him that the Dark Lord could help him find Astrid, he was finally listening.

"You want to see the Dark Lord. You?" The disbelief was clear in the larger male's voice. "What makes you think I know where he is, or would even take you there if I could? I should kill you for the assumption!"

Remus growled at the threat, but he made no other aggressive move. "I'm missing the last member of my pack. All I want is to ask if he knows where she is."

Fenrir narrowed his eyes in contemplation. He knew that the younger wolf had to be talking about the Potter girl. The fact that he thought the Dark Lord knew where she was, and wasn't trying to kill her, was interesting. Perhaps he would do as he was asked and take the insolent whelp to the Lord. It would be entertaining, if nothing else. There was bound to be some torturing involved. He wouldn't do anything for free though.

"And what would I get in return, should I take you on this obviously suicidal mission of yours?" Greyback crossed his well-muscled arms over his massive chest as he stared hard at the other male.

Remus nearly groaned in exasperation. Of course, he would want something in return. He should have expected nothing less. That was rather naïve of him.

"What do you want, Greyback?" His voice was resigned.

The older werewolf looked contemplative for a moment before he smiled viciously, baring his sharp and wolfish teeth in the process. "Two things, Pup. First, I want you to submit to me as your Alpha, and then, if you survive this foolish errand of yours, you will join my pack as an Omega. If you prove able to adapt, you might work your way up the ranks, but everyone starts out an Omega."

Remus stiffened in horror and anger. Submit to him!? Not bloody likely! His wolf was in complete agreement, especially at the Omega part. He was Alpha of his little back, and though none of the others had been werewolves, it didn't make him any less of an Alpha. The very thought of not only submitting to another but being the lowest rank in the pack had his hackles rising and his teeth baring.

"What makes you think I could ever except you as my Alpha?" Remus's voice had developed the deep timbre of a growl as his wolf surged forward, wanting to show just what he thought of the other Alpha's demands. Omega indeed.

Fenrir's eyes flashed at the obvious challenge and an answering growl rumbled in his chest. "You will if you want help finding your precious pup. And of course, with you joining my pack, so does what remains of your own."

The very thought of his pup anywhere near this brute brought his wolf to the surface completely as he teeth elongated and claws formed on his hands. His hair grew wilder and fur started sprouting over his body. Remus had never accepted his wolf enough to turn outside of the full moon and even then, his form had been week and slickly, driven mad by his own hatred of his self like many before him. But now they were both on the same page and determined to protect the last of their pack.

With a thunderous growl, a wolfman that stood on two clawed feet and as tall as a large horse lunged at the threat to his pup. The wolfman was lean, and lightly muscled, obviously made more for speed, then power, but no less deadly for it. It was coated in course brown fur that darkened to black in some places, and a light honey color in others. Its feet looked more like large paws, but it's hands were still human in shape, just tipped with long, lethal looking, hooked claws. Its muzzle was elongated, and filled with vicious looking teeth, it gave the head a distinctly canine shape. It even had large, pointed wolf like ears on top of its head. All in all, it was very different to what Remus usually turned into on the full moon.

Fenrir hadn't been expecting the attack, nor did he expect the other male to be able to turn without the full moon. Very few werewolves ever managed such a feat. But Greyback was much older and more experienced in fighting like a true werewolf. He dodged the lunge, only being slightly nicked by those claws, and the smell of his own blood triggered his own transformation.

Silver fur sprouted from his body and he grew to stand a whole head higher than the younger wolf and twice as wide. He made a grab for the brown wolf, a vicious growl rumbling in his chest as they both hit the ground, fighting to get the dominant position and force the other to submit or die.

A crowed was quickly forming around the battling duo as the sounds of their fight grew in volume and lured out the other patrons of the Den. It was mostly Fenrir's pack that come to watch the demise of whoever had been foolish enough to challenge their Alpha, but a few magic users and even a vampire or two came to watch curiously, though the later stayed deep in the shadows.

Most of the Pack were surprised to see the smaller wolf actually posing a challenge to their Alpha. It was obvious that Greyback was stronger, but the unknown wolf was much faster and new how to use that speed, if the slashes and bitemarks on the larger one was any indication. Not that the smaller was getting away unscathed either. He had a painful looking bite on his shoulder that was bleeding profusely and a long scratch over his throat where Fenrir had nearly torn it out and would have, if he had been a moment slower in jerking away.

Fenrir Greyback could admit to being surprised at how well the younger one fought. He found himself actually enjoying the fight. This was the first time, in a long time, that he battled a worthy opponent. Most were either too scared, or too weak to be much of a challenge for him. He knew he was going to win this fight though. His own wounds were painful, but mostly superficial. The younger male, on the other hand, was slowing down some as blood loss from his shoulder wound started getting to him and it was obvious that this was his first time turning without the full moon and exhaustion was catching up to him quickly.

With a quick burst of speed, he had the smaller wolf pressed firmly to the ground and his teeth posed over his neck, clearly in a prim position to rip his throat out should he choose to. He stopped there though and waited. The smaller wolf had proven to be good in a fight as well as shown he was a strong enough wolf to turn without the aid of the moon. If Remus submitted now, Fenrir would accept it and welcome him into the pack. If not, he would die.

Remus panted harshly into the gravel covered ground and thought over his options. Truthfully, he was shocked to still be living at all. It was known that no one lived after challenging the feral werewolf above him. He didn't want to die, of course. Who would look after his pup if he was gone? But could he live under the wolf that had turned him when he was so young?

Fenrir was obviously growing impatient as he growled and settled his teeth firmly around his neck in a finale warning. Remus seemed to deflate at that. He couldn't leave his pup alone in the world, especially so soon after Sirius had died.

Making up his mind, the smaller wolf whined in acceptance and bared his throat. The larger wolf rumbled in approval, biting down enough to draw blood to mark him as pack, and then stood up, allowing the other wolf to breath a bit easier as he wasn't being crushed under his bulk any longer.

Fenrir rubbed the tension out of his neck as his body turned back into a more human shape. It was a good fight. Maybe after Remus was settled into pack life they could have a friendly battle a time or two. Fighting was the best stress reliever, in his opinion. He also knew that the other male would not stay an Omega for long. He was already well on his way to proving himself a delta, or even a beta.

Remus gave a silent groan as he pushed himself off the ground and bit back a whimper as his body changed back to his human self. He was exhausted and sore and just wanted a bed to fall into.

"Now, let's get you cleaned up and I'll set up a meeting for you with the Dark Lord. Hopefully you survive the encounter. I look forward to having you in my pack, Lupin." Fenrir's voice was still rough and full of growls, but he seemed to be in a more agreeable mood at least.

Remus sighed tiredly but moved to follow his new Alpha into the Den, making sure to stay well behind him, as was now his place. _The things he does for his pup._ Was the thought that drifted through his head as they entered the building.

* * *

Astrid

It was Astrid's birthday today. She was officially 16 years old. It had been a few days since her talk with Akihiko about her fear of herself, and she had made a lot of progress going through her memories since then. She was still in her early childhood but moving quickly along. It was difficult remembering all of the abuse and horrible things her relatives had said and done to her, but she was learning to accept it and she could feel not only her mind, but her magic getting stronger as she healed from years of pain and fear as a child.

"I think it's time for a break young one." Akihiko pulled her out of her mind and she opened her eyes to see him sitting on his usual work stool, watching her. "You'll burn yourself out if you work too much."

Astrid smiled slightly and nodded. She could feel the slight strain on her mind and knew what he said to be true. She was learning to trust what the man said.

"What is it that you do, exactly, Akihiko?" She questioned softly as she eyed all of curious objects on his workbench. She had been insanely curious about it all ever since she first woke up there over a month ago. This was the first time she felt comfortable enough to ask. Questions had never really been encouraged at her relatives and that conditioning had bled over into the wizarding world. Now that she was finally healing from her childhood, the thought of asking something like that didn't make her freeze in panic while waiting for a smack.

Akihiko glanced back at his projects and smirked. He had been wondering when she would ask. He had seen the burning curiosity in her eyes and saw her eyeing his work station every now and then, but she had never voiced her question, or snooped into his things like he had been expecting. She had pretty good self-control for one so young.

"I am a Master Crafter. I create new wards, spells, and the like. I mainly focus on offensive runes and applying them to things but have also created other things. I work for the Japanese Ministry as a freelance crafter. I keep them up to date with new spells and wards. Nearly the entire Ministry building is protected by my own personally created wards and rune sequences.

"What you see on my table are projects of mine. I enjoy taking random objects, like this," He held up what she recognized as a potioneers knife, "a normal, everyday potioning knife, and adding runes." He tilted the knife to catch the light at showed grooves, that were obviously runes, running down the blade and handle. "These are self-sharpening and cleaning runes. You wouldn't believe how often a potion is ruined by an amateur that forgets to clean their knife between chopping different ingredients. It contaminates the rest of the ingredients and ruins the whole potion! With this, that won't be a problem anymore."

Astrid most certainly did not blush at the comment about not cleaning the knife and ruining potions. She did wonder though how no one had told her to do so. That explained some of her more disastrous failures at the subject at any rate.

"But I thought you couldn't use objects with magic on them for most potions, or at least the harder ones. Doesn't it cause them to become unstable?" She tilted her head like a curious pup and Akihiko had to smother a laugh. He liked her curiosity. It showed her intelligence.

"Normally, that's true. But my workshop isn't the only thing that I put nullifying runes on. You see this bottom line here?" He brought the knife closer and showed her the lower, smaller line of runes that ran directly under the other ones. "These are a bit different than the ones around us but work similar. They keep the magic on the knife. It's sort of like a shield that doesn't allow the magic to attach to any of the ingredients that you're cutting. It keeps it firmly on the knife only so that no extra magic is added to the potion."

"Genius." She breathed, looking closely at the elegantly carved grooves. She had never taken runes, wanting to stick with Ron, who wanted to only take the easy classes, but even she could appreciate the work that when into making something like this. It would take a lot of time and effort to not only hand carve the runes, but to also find sequences that wouldn't work against each other or just cancel each other out.

"I agree." His tone was amused and Astrid blushed, realizing that she was practically fangirling over his work.

"Why do you have magic nullifiers on your workshop?" Her embarrassment wasn't enough to stop her curiosity though.

"This is where I carve the runes." He answered, "I have a different work shop for creating spells and wards. I need a completely magic free environment to carve experimental rune sequences in case something goes wrong. In here, the runes can't be accidently activated until I want them to be. After I carve them, I'll take the object to a testing zone in a completely controlled environment, so if it explodes or does something it shouldn't, no one gets hurt."

"Oh. That makes sense." Astrid said, but before she could ask another question, a small pile of parchment appeared before her, out of thin air.

Both man and girl stared blankly at the mysteriously appearing parchment in befuddlement.

"Does that happen often here...?" The messy-haired girl asked slowly.

"First time I'm seeing it." He answered with narrowed eyes. He motioned for the girl to back up, which she quickly did, and he waved his wand over it.

"House elf magic." He said. "The elf itself would not have been able to get passed my wards or even the nullifying runes, but apparently it could still pop mail in." He seemed oddly fascinated about that fact, like he hadn't known it before then. "It's addressed to you, and clean of any type of magic."

Astrid slowly approached the parchment like it was a bomb about to go off. Or a Howler. Her heart squeezed slightly as she recognized Hermione's neat and orderly handwriting. She had tried hard to not think about the friends she had left behind. She feared they would have condemned her and called a traitor or a coward for leaving. She fully expected them to be firmly on Dumbledore's side and she could not face the pain that it would cause. So, she kept herself form thinking about them. She should have known that the genius known as Hermione would find a way to contact her.

She picked the letter up with shaky hands and sat heavily on her bed to read.

 _Astrid,_

 _First off, I want to say how sorry I am for once again listening to Dumbledore and not staying in contact with you at the start of summer like I had promised to do. I never meant to hurt you Astrid, but the Headmaster made a good argument about your safety being more important and I, like a naive, hero-worshiping, little girl, listened to him without thought._

 _I know you don't trust me or Ron to take your side in this, and I don't blame you. We haven't proven to be very good friends to you lately. I have only the vaguest idea on why you left but know this. I don't care what your reason is. You have always put others before yourself and I think it's well past time for you to be a little selfish. I am and will always be on **your** side, Astrid. Not Dumbledore, not the Ministry, not even the Light, but yours. If you wanted to stay neutral or even join the Dark, as long as it was of your own free will, I would still stay on your side._

 _The Weasleys as a whole are furious with the Headmaster as well and are refusing to speak to him. Remus nearly went full Werewolf on him, but he was mad at Dumbledore well before it became known that you left. He had tried repeatedly to write to you and even come see you but was always caught. I think Dumbledore had a monitor on him in case he tried contacting you. They do not mind that you left, they are just beyond worried for your safety. You are not alone Astrid. Please remember that._

 _I would not recommend sending us any letters. Ron and I are being watched in case you try contacting us. Be wary of Dumbledore. It's becoming increasingly obvious that he isn't the genial grandfather that he likes to portray and he wants you back desperately. I don't like the look of his face lately. It doesn't bode well for you._

 _With all my love, your friend,_

 _Hermione._

 _Astrid, stay safe, listen to Hermione she usually knows what she's talking about, and don't worry about us. We'll try keeping you informed on what's going on here. Think of us as your own personal spies!_

 _Ron_

Astrid started smiling half way through the letter and a huge weight seemed to be lifted off of her. They were on her side. Truly on her side! Oh, it made her want to jump for joy.

The girl looked up at her host, her eyes shining and glittering like jewels in her happiness.

"Good news, I take it?" He asked with soft smile of his own, seeing her so happy for the first time easing something within him.

"The best!" She agreed and gave into the urge to laugh merrily. This had to be her best birthday yet.


End file.
